Matt Calkins Quits Seattle Times After 11 Years Over Spiked Women's Sports Column
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 20
Matt Calkins Quits Seattle Times After 11 Years Over Spiked Women's Sports Column
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 20
Summary
Thursday’s resignation followed the Seattle Times’ decision not to publish Calkins’ column on two Washington student-athletes opposing transgender girls competing in female sports, a piece he later posted on Substack.
Calkins said editors sat on the column for nearly two weeks, then told him it could not run because he had not flagged the topic in advance; he said the rejection fit a broader pattern of columns being spiked when he "went against the grain."
The column grew out of a July 28 Seattle Storm game and rally backing Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, where Calkins interviewed 16-year-old runner Ahnaleigh Wilson and basketball player Frances Staudt about competing against transgender athletes.
That episode had already drawn wider attention after Wilson said Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted her inside the arena; the Storm apologized, and the WNBA fined Keaton and barred her from 5 home games.
The dispute lands as Washington voters weigh Initiative IL26-638 in November, a measure on sex-based school sports participation that supporters call a fairness safeguard and opponents call discriminatory.