Seattle Times columnist quits after paper spikes column arguing Cunningham’s stance not transphobic

Matt Calkins, who was a sports columnist at the Seattle Times for 11 years, resigned after the newspaper refused to run his column concerning the controversy surrounding biological males playing on women’s teams. In an article on his Substack explaining the decision, Calkins said that prior to a game last month between the Seattle Storm and Indiana Fevers, he spoke with supporters of Fever guard Sophie Cunningham at a rally prior to the game. He said he spoke with 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, who was holding a sign that read, “Thank You Sophie for Speaking up for Girls!” 
When he learned the girl allegedly got cussed out by Storm co-owner during the game, he decided to write a column. Wilson had stressed to him at the rally that she wasn’t anti-trans, as did other supporters of Cunningham. His column argued that the position supporting the separation of biological females and males in sports doesn’t automatically make one transphobic, and he urged people to stop throwing that label around. 
According to Calkins, his column was passed through a series of editors who informed him they weren’t going to run it. He said it wasn’t the first time the newspaper declined to run his op-eds. Another piece that was shot down, Calkins said, questioned whether players for the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team were really the victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit. Another declined piece was about “cancel culture” in sports. 
“The common theme? All of these challenged prevailing newsroom narratives and likely would have triggered the outrage mob,” Calkins wrote. 
As a result of the newspaper’s refusal to run perspectives challenging dominant narratives in the newsroom, Calkins said, he resigned. 
“That may come off as an emotional decision, but it was exactly what I was prepared to do….I’ve always thought that it was a columnist’s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues. To avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged. I guess in the end, I just didn’t feel like I could do my job properly anymore,” he wrote. 

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