Seattle Times sports columnist resigns over spiked trans athlete story

A sports columnist with The Seattle Times announced Thursday he has resigned after the outlet declined to run his piece on transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“After 11 years as a sports columnist at the Seattle Times, I have decided to resign. It was entirely my choice, and it was not an easy one. The impetus was the Times declining to run a column I wrote from the perspective of two female student athletes who were opposed to competing against biological males,” columnist Matt Calkins wrote in a social media post Thursday.

“It was one of several pieces of mine that had been spiked, and I no longer felt like I could properly do my job as a columnist,” he added.

In a Substack article discussing his departure, Calkins wrote that, prior to a July game between the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever , he had talked to people for his column at a pro-Sophie Cunningham rally.

Cunningham is a Fever player who has supported some states’ efforts to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports.

The columnist said some of the rally participants included a 16-year-old girl who said a transgender athlete defeated her in a track race and another student-athlete who claimed she “endured daily verbal abuse after refusing to play against a biological boy.” Though, he said, both later asserted that they weren’t against people identifying as transgender.

“So that was the thesis of my column … that supporting the separation of biological females and males doesn’t automatically make you transphobic, so let’s stop throwing those labels around,” Calkins wrote on Substack.

When asked about Calkins’s resignation, the Times told The Hill that it does “not comment on personnel matters.”

The WNBA has been at the heart of escalating cultural tension in recent weeks on issues linked to gender, race and equity — namely focusing on transgender athletes in women’s sports. Cunningham has been at the center of the commotion , with her political commentary on the issue garnering national attention.

On Aug. 8, former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft amid controversy surrounding some players’ and coaches’ support for allowing transgender women to play in the league.

“After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines, I’m officially declaring myself a @WNBA prospect,” Freedom announced in a social media post . “If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.”

On Aug. 8, The Associated Press reported the WNBA planned to form a task force to address transgender athletes’ potential participation in the league.

Calkins ended his Thursday post saying he had “no animosity toward anyone who works” at The Seattle Times.