Matt Calkins refused to be muzzled.<\/p>\n
The longtime Seattle Times sports columnist detailed his decision to leave the outlet after 11 years, citing a spiked Sophie Cunningham-based column as his final straw.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 11 years as a sports columnist at the\u00a0Seattle Times, I have decided to resign,\u201d he wrote in a post in X<\/a>. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever talks to the media after a game against the Toronto Tempo on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n A representative for the Seattle Times declined comment to The Post.<\/p>\n Calkins, in a Substack post<\/a>, wrote that he spoke with fans outside of a Seattle Storm game who showed up to support the Fever star \u2014 who made headlines when she told ESPN she was against girls competing with biological men in sports \u2014 and with one teen in particular who was allegedly cursed out by the team\u2019s owner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Calkins wrote to the point that \u201csupporting the separation of biological females and males doesn\u2019t automatically make you transphobic.\u201d<\/p>\n A draft of the piece was subjected to a heavy and lengthy review.<\/p>\n Matt Calkins, former Sports Columnist for The Seattle Times. Matt Calkins \/ LinkedIn<\/p>\n \u201cI sent a draft after talking to my editor the morning of Friday, July 31, telling him there was no rush to run it,\u201d Calkins wrote. \u201cHe told me later that day that he and others were looking at it, but that it wouldn\u2019t be ready for Sunday\u2019s paper. Monday night, I got an email saying that his boss was hoping to talk to the top two newsroom editors about it on Wednesday. No feedback had been given to me. Thursday afternoon, my editor informed me that it wasn\u2019t going to run because I didn\u2019t tell him I was doing this in advance. I didn\u2019t buy this reasoning. If 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<\/p>\n Calkin\u2019s response?<\/p>\n \u201cTo resign on the spot,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) shoots the ball while New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n Calkins claims he had several other columns killed during his tenure<\/p>\n \u201cOne was a piece questioning whether players for the U.S. Women\u2019s Soccer Team were really the victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAnother was a more general column on cancel culture in sports. The last, written shortly after George Floyd\u2019s death, implored people to listen to state-champion basketball coach Mike Bethea \u2014 a black man urging the public not to stereotype cops. The common theme? All of these challenged prevailing newsroom narratives and likely would have triggered the outrage mob.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite facing unexpected challenges following his decision to resign, Calkins seems resolute. <\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m scared s\u2013tless right now,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI have no idea how the next few months or years are going to play out. But that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Calkins refused to be muzzled. 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