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| Writer Matt Calkins (upper right) |
Matt Calkins, a longtime sports columnist at The Seattle Times, resigned after editors refused to publish a column arguing that supporting restrictions on transgender (biological male) athletes in women’s sports does not automatically make someone transphobic.
He announced the resignation on Substack on Thursday, after 11 years at the paper.
The piece, filed in late July, drew from conversations at a rally supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (who has spoken in favor of keeping women’s categories sex-based) ahead of a Seattle Storm game. Calkins interviewed female student-athletes who described competing against or being required to share facilities with biological males; they emphasized they were not opposed to people identifying as transgender. His thesis was that defending sex-based categories is a fairness and safety issue for female athletes, not inherent bigotry, and that the “transphobic” label is overused to shut down debate.
Editors originally delayed the column, escalated it to senior staff, and ultimately killed it, citing that he had not cleared the topic in advance. Calkins rejected that explanation (noting the multi-day review process) and resigned. He said this was part of a pattern: other columns he viewed as “against the grain” or “to the right of how most of the newsroom feels” were also spiked, including one questioning aspects of the U.S. women’s soccer equal-pay lawsuit and another on cancel culture in sports.
Editors originally delayed the column, escalated it to senior staff, and ultimately killed it, citing that he had not cleared the topic in advance. Calkins rejected that explanation (noting the multi-day review process) and resigned. He said this was part of a pattern: other columns he viewed as “against the grain” or “to the right of how most of the newsroom feels” were also spiked, including one questioning aspects of the U.S. women’s soccer equal-pay lawsuit and another on cancel culture in sports.
This episode sits in a larger pattern of newsroom friction over coverage of sex, gender, and sports. Biological sex differences in strength, speed, muscle mass, and skeletal structure (rooted in puberty and testosterone exposure) create average performance gaps that make open categories disadvantage female athletes in most sports.
Multiple studies, sports governing bodies, and records of male-to-female transitions show retained advantages even after hormone suppression. Framing disagreement with male inclusion in female categories as automatically “transphobic” treats a empirical fairness claim as moral heresy and narrows what can be published in mainstream outlets. Calkins’ account matches reports from other journalists who have described progressive consensus limiting certain topics.
The resignation has drawn coverage across outlets (NYT, The Hill, OutKick, NY Post, Washington Times, and others), with Calkins now on Substack and reportedly receiving interest from other platforms. It highlights ongoing tensions between editorial gatekeeping and a columnist’s expectation of latitude on contested public questions.