{"id":2489,"date":"2026-08-20T21:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:38:06","slug":"sports-columnist-breaks-up-with-paper-over-biological-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489","title":{"rendered":"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After 11 years as a sports columnist at The Seattle Times, Matt Calkins has resigned from the paper, saying editors refused to publish a column arguing that opposing biological males competing in women\u2019s sports does not make someone \u201ctransphobic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The columnist <\/span>announced<\/span> his resignation Thursday, saying the decision was entirely his own but came after the newspaper declined to run his piece on the debate over biological males competing in women\u2019s sports.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision came after Calkins interviewed 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, a student-athlete who had lost to a biological male in a track race and attended a matchup between the Indiana Fever and the\u00a0 Seattle Storm carrying a sign reading, \u201cThank You, Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!\u201d Wilson\u2019s experience at that game became the catalyst for Calkins\u2019 unpublished column.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the game, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton <\/span>confronted<\/span> Wilson and another teenage girl who were supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed biological males competing in women\u2019s sports. <\/span><\/p>\n

Keaton allegedly called the girls \u201cf***ing insane\u201d and told Wilson, \u201cI hope Jesus can forgive you,\u201d leaving the teenager in tears. The WNBA subsequently <\/span>suspended<\/span> Keaton from attending five home games and fined her over the incident.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Calkins, the episode raised a question he believed deserved to be addressed by a sports columnist: Why should a teenage girl who believes women\u2019s sports should remain female-only automatically be treated as hateful or bigoted?<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilson told Calkins that she did not hate transgender people and simply believed girls should have their own sports. Another Washington student-athlete, Frances Staudt, told him she had faced verbal abuse at school after refusing to play against a biological male.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calkins ultimately published the rejected column on his Substack under the title, \u201c<\/span>Agreeing with Sophie Cunningham\u2019s stance doesn\u2019t make you transphobic.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome people saw bigotry. I saw bravery,\u201d Calkins wrote of Wilson. \u201cI saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The column argued that the separation of male and female sports exists precisely because of biological differences in physical performance, and that supporting that separation does not necessarily amount to hostility toward transgender people. But the Seattle Times declined to publish it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calkins <\/span>said<\/span> he initially submitted the column to his editor on July 31 and was told that editors were reviewing it. Several days later, he said, he was informed that the piece would not run because he had failed to notify his editor in advance that he was working on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t buy this reasoning,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIf that were the case, the piece would have been killed on the spot, not passed through the hands of multiple editors over several days.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He resigned immediately afterward.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision was not, according to Calkins, simply about one column. He said the Times had previously spiked columns questioning whether the U.S. women\u2019s soccer team was actually the victim of discrimination in its equal-pay lawsuit, criticizing cancel culture in sports, and defending a black high school basketball coach who urged Americans not to stereotype police following George Floyd\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calkins said the common thread was that the pieces challenged narratives that he believed a columnist should be willing to question.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought that it was a columnist\u2019s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess in the end, I just didn\u2019t feel like I could do my job properly anymore,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calkins acknowledged that leaving a long-established newspaper job without another position lined up was frightening. He said he has no idea what his career will look like in the coming years and joked that he could even end up working as a dental assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he said the uncertainty was preferable to self-censorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m scared sh\u2014tless right now,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cBut that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Talarico Says \u2018God Is Not A Christian\u2019 In Unearthed Sermon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 11 years as a sports columnist at The Seattle Times, Matt Calkins has resigned from the paper, saying editors refused to publish a column arguing that opposing biological males competing in women\u2019s sports does not make someone \u201ctransphobic.\u201dThe columnist announced his resignation Thursday, saying the decision was entirely his own but came after the newspaper declined to run his piece on the debate over biological males competing in women\u2019s sports.\u201cThe 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,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIt 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.\u201dThe decision came after Calkins interviewed 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, a student-athlete who had lost to a biological male in a track race and attended a matchup between the Indiana Fever and the\u00a0 Seattle Storm carrying a sign reading, \u201cThank You, Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!\u201d Wilson\u2019s experience at that game became the catalyst for Calkins\u2019 unpublished column.During the game, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted Wilson and another teenage girl who were supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed biological males competing in women\u2019s sports. Keaton allegedly called the girls \u201cf***ing insane\u201d and told Wilson, \u201cI hope Jesus can forgive you,\u201d leaving the teenager in tears. The WNBA subsequently suspended Keaton from attending five home games and fined her over the incident.For Calkins, the episode raised a question he believed deserved to be addressed by a sports columnist: Why should a teenage girl who believes women\u2019s sports should remain female-only automatically be treated as hateful or bigoted?Wilson told Calkins that she did not hate transgender people and simply believed girls should have their own sports. Another Washington student-athlete, Frances Staudt, told him she had faced verbal abuse at school after refusing to play against a biological male.Calkins ultimately published the rejected column on his Substack under the title, \u201cAgreeing with Sophie Cunningham\u2019s stance doesn\u2019t make you transphobic.\u201d\u201cSome people saw bigotry. I saw bravery,\u201d Calkins wrote of Wilson. \u201cI saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.\u201dThe column argued that the separation of male and female sports exists precisely because of biological differences in physical performance, and that supporting that separation does not necessarily amount to hostility toward transgender people. But the Seattle Times declined to publish it.Calkins said he initially submitted the column to his editor on July 31 and was told that editors were reviewing it. Several days later, he said, he was informed that the piece would not run because he had failed to notify his editor in advance that he was working on it.\u201cI didn\u2019t buy this reasoning,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIf that were the case, the piece would have been killed on the spot, not passed through the hands of multiple editors over several days.\u201d He resigned immediately afterward.The decision was not, according to Calkins, simply about one column. He said the Times had previously spiked columns questioning whether the U.S. women\u2019s soccer team was actually the victim of discrimination in its equal-pay lawsuit, criticizing cancel culture in sports, and defending a black high school basketball coach who urged Americans not to stereotype police following George Floyd\u2019s death.Calkins said the common thread was that the pieces challenged narratives that he believed a columnist should be willing to question. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that it was a columnist\u2019s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged.\u201d\u201cI guess in the end, I just didn\u2019t feel like I could do my job properly anymore,\u201d he wrote.Calkins acknowledged that leaving a long-established newspaper job without another position lined up was frightening. He said he has no idea what his career will look like in the coming years and joked that he could even end up working as a dental assistant.But he said the uncertainty was preferable to self-censorship.\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m scared sh\u2014tless right now,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cBut that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality - Blue Route Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality - Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 11 years as a sports columnist at The Seattle Times, Matt Calkins has resigned from the paper, saying editors refused to publish a column arguing that opposing biological males competing in women\u2019s sports does not make someone \u201ctransphobic.\u201dThe columnist announced his resignation Thursday, saying the decision was entirely his own but came after the newspaper declined to run his piece on the debate over biological males competing in women\u2019s sports.\u201cThe 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,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIt 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.\u201dThe decision came after Calkins interviewed 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, a student-athlete who had lost to a biological male in a track race and attended a matchup between the Indiana Fever and the\u00a0 Seattle Storm carrying a sign reading, \u201cThank You, Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!\u201d Wilson\u2019s experience at that game became the catalyst for Calkins\u2019 unpublished column.During the game, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted Wilson and another teenage girl who were supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed biological males competing in women\u2019s sports. Keaton allegedly called the girls \u201cf***ing insane\u201d and told Wilson, \u201cI hope Jesus can forgive you,\u201d leaving the teenager in tears. The WNBA subsequently suspended Keaton from attending five home games and fined her over the incident.For Calkins, the episode raised a question he believed deserved to be addressed by a sports columnist: Why should a teenage girl who believes women\u2019s sports should remain female-only automatically be treated as hateful or bigoted?Wilson told Calkins that she did not hate transgender people and simply believed girls should have their own sports. Another Washington student-athlete, Frances Staudt, told him she had faced verbal abuse at school after refusing to play against a biological male.Calkins ultimately published the rejected column on his Substack under the title, \u201cAgreeing with Sophie Cunningham\u2019s stance doesn\u2019t make you transphobic.\u201d\u201cSome people saw bigotry. I saw bravery,\u201d Calkins wrote of Wilson. \u201cI saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.\u201dThe column argued that the separation of male and female sports exists precisely because of biological differences in physical performance, and that supporting that separation does not necessarily amount to hostility toward transgender people. But the Seattle Times declined to publish it.Calkins said he initially submitted the column to his editor on July 31 and was told that editors were reviewing it. Several days later, he said, he was informed that the piece would not run because he had failed to notify his editor in advance that he was working on it.\u201cI didn\u2019t buy this reasoning,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIf that were the case, the piece would have been killed on the spot, not passed through the hands of multiple editors over several days.\u201d He resigned immediately afterward.The decision was not, according to Calkins, simply about one column. He said the Times had previously spiked columns questioning whether the U.S. women\u2019s soccer team was actually the victim of discrimination in its equal-pay lawsuit, criticizing cancel culture in sports, and defending a black high school basketball coach who urged Americans not to stereotype police following George Floyd\u2019s death.Calkins said the common thread was that the pieces challenged narratives that he believed a columnist should be willing to question. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that it was a columnist\u2019s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged.\u201d\u201cI guess in the end, I just didn\u2019t feel like I could do my job properly anymore,\u201d he wrote.Calkins acknowledged that leaving a long-established newspaper job without another position lined up was frightening. He said he has no idea what his career will look like in the coming years and joked that he could even end up working as a dental assistant.But he said the uncertainty was preferable to self-censorship.\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m scared sh\u2014tless right now,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cBut that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-20T21:38:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c\"},\"headline\":\"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-20T21:38:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489\"},\"wordCount\":771,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5edb1218c28b75b1a6d6109b410130af.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2489\",\"name\":\"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality - 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Blue Route Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality - Blue Route Journal","og_description":"After 11 years as a sports columnist at The Seattle Times, Matt Calkins has resigned from the paper, saying editors refused to publish a column arguing that opposing biological males competing in women\u2019s sports does not make someone \u201ctransphobic.\u201dThe columnist announced his resignation Thursday, saying the decision was entirely his own but came after the newspaper declined to run his piece on the debate over biological males competing in women\u2019s sports.\u201cThe 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,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIt 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.\u201dThe decision came after Calkins interviewed 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, a student-athlete who had lost to a biological male in a track race and attended a matchup between the Indiana Fever and the\u00a0 Seattle Storm carrying a sign reading, \u201cThank You, Sophie For Speaking Up For Girls!\u201d Wilson\u2019s experience at that game became the catalyst for Calkins\u2019 unpublished column.During the game, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted Wilson and another teenage girl who were supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed biological males competing in women\u2019s sports. Keaton allegedly called the girls \u201cf***ing insane\u201d and told Wilson, \u201cI hope Jesus can forgive you,\u201d leaving the teenager in tears. The WNBA subsequently suspended Keaton from attending five home games and fined her over the incident.For Calkins, the episode raised a question he believed deserved to be addressed by a sports columnist: Why should a teenage girl who believes women\u2019s sports should remain female-only automatically be treated as hateful or bigoted?Wilson told Calkins that she did not hate transgender people and simply believed girls should have their own sports. Another Washington student-athlete, Frances Staudt, told him she had faced verbal abuse at school after refusing to play against a biological male.Calkins ultimately published the rejected column on his Substack under the title, \u201cAgreeing with Sophie Cunningham\u2019s stance doesn\u2019t make you transphobic.\u201d\u201cSome people saw bigotry. I saw bravery,\u201d Calkins wrote of Wilson. \u201cI saw a teenage girl speaking up on an issue that so many adults shy away from.\u201dThe column argued that the separation of male and female sports exists precisely because of biological differences in physical performance, and that supporting that separation does not necessarily amount to hostility toward transgender people. But the Seattle Times declined to publish it.Calkins said he initially submitted the column to his editor on July 31 and was told that editors were reviewing it. Several days later, he said, he was informed that the piece would not run because he had failed to notify his editor in advance that he was working on it.\u201cI didn\u2019t buy this reasoning,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cIf that were the case, the piece would have been killed on the spot, not passed through the hands of multiple editors over several days.\u201d He resigned immediately afterward.The decision was not, according to Calkins, simply about one column. He said the Times had previously spiked columns questioning whether the U.S. women\u2019s soccer team was actually the victim of discrimination in its equal-pay lawsuit, criticizing cancel culture in sports, and defending a black high school basketball coach who urged Americans not to stereotype police following George Floyd\u2019s death.Calkins said the common thread was that the pieces challenged narratives that he believed a columnist should be willing to question. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that it was a columnist\u2019s duty to generate discussion on the most hot-button issues,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo avoid such topics was to leave the reader shortchanged.\u201d\u201cI guess in the end, I just didn\u2019t feel like I could do my job properly anymore,\u201d he wrote.Calkins acknowledged that leaving a long-established newspaper job without another position lined up was frightening. He said he has no idea what his career will look like in the coming years and joked that he could even end up working as a dental assistant.But he said the uncertainty was preferable to self-censorship.\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m scared sh\u2014tless right now,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cBut that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489","og_site_name":"Blue Route Journal","article_published_time":"2026-08-20T21:38:06+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c"},"headline":"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality","datePublished":"2026-08-20T21:38:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489"},"wordCount":771,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5edb1218c28b75b1a6d6109b410130af.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489","url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2489","name":"Sports Columnist Breaks Up With Paper Over Biological Reality - 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