‘You print it, you don’t spike it’: Gee believes Seattle Times shouldn’t have spiked Sophie Cunningham story

Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins said he resigned after 11 years because editors repeatedly killed columns that challenged what he described as the paper’s prevailing political viewpoint.

Calkins’s final straw was a column about two female student-athletes who opposed competing against biological males and attended a Seattle Storm game to support Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s stance on trans athletes in women’s sports.

Calkins explained that the column was held for about a week before editors decided not to publish it, and that wasn’t the first time.

“Given some of the history I’ve had at The Seattle Times with other columns that have been spiked, this didn’t surprise me,” Calkins said. “I was basically ready for it, and I knew that if it happened, I just couldn’t work there anymore. Not because of personal animosity towards anybody; I just didn’t feel like I could do my job anymore. And journalism’s supposed to be about free speech, and I just didn’t quite feel like I had it there.”

The Seattle Times has not publicly explained why it killed the column and has not responded to Calkins’ allegations of viewpoint censorship.

Gee says the column should have run — period

Host Gee Scott said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio that the paper was wrong to spike it.

“The Seattle Times made a mistake,” Gee said. “Matt Calkins was an opinion columnist. If the columns were factually sound and they met the standards of the paper and met all the rules and criteria, then you print it. You don’t spike it. You let the people decide and have those conversations. Whether you agree or disagree, Matt Calkins should have had his column published, period.”

Gee then put his own position on the record.

“I don’t believe that someone born male should compete in girls’ sports,” Gee said. “But here’s where a lot of folks lose me. There are roughly 2.8 million transgender Americans age 13 and older, about 1% of the population, less than that, actually. That’s somebody’s sibling, that’s somebody’s child, somebody’s loved one.”

Gee asks who profits from the outrage

Gee said what troubles him most is how a small population has become one of the biggest political talking points in America, and that there is money in keeping it that way.

“At some point, are we protecting women or have we figured out that outrage about transgender people is actually profitable?” Gee said. “There are people that wake up every single day, and they want to drive hate, and they want to drive fear because it’s profitable. That’s where the consistency part matters to me.

“If your entire platform is built around protecting girls and women, I’m going to listen to that because I agree we should protect girls, we should protect women,” Gee continued. “But I’m also going to listen when we’re talking about Epstein and the accountability for anybody who may have participated in those crimes. If you can say, ‘I want to protect young girls,’ and you’re silent about Epstein, then you’re proving my point that hate for profit is real.”

Ursula agrees the column should have run but calls for perspective

Host Ursula Reutin said she read the spiked column and agreed it should have been published.

“His basic premise was simple: agreeing with Sophie Cunningham’s position on trans athletes in women’s sports should not automatically make someone transphobic,” Ursula said. “If they’re only printing one point of view, then that is absolutely censorship.”

But Ursula said the intensity of the national reaction concerns her.

“The WIAA oversees more than 200,000 student-athletes in Washington, and they’re saying it’s only aware of about 10 trans athletes competing statewide,” Ursula said. “We’re still talking about a relatively small number of kids.

“Yes, we should have these conversations. But imagine if we spent this kind of energy talking about how everybody could get access to food, or how everybody could get access to healthcare, or how families can afford housing, or how we can help kids who are falling behind in school,” Ursula added.

Both hosts say having an opinion doesn’t make you hateful

Gee said part of the reason he wanted to address the topic was to reassure listeners.

“There’s a lot of people out here that feel like both you and I,” Gee said. “You don’t think that transgender athletes should be playing with girls. You have that opinion. And you’re walking around here scared because somebody is going to accuse you of hating the transgender community. I just wanted to remind people that you’re not hateful for having that opinion.”

Ursula added that the young female athletes who attended the Storm rally are now being drawn into a broader political ecosystem.

“They were given those front-row seats to make their point. Those seats were $1,300-a-piece donations by groups that are pushing for an initiative,” Ursula said. “And then there is also a financial relationship with XX-XY Athletics. So again, now they’re getting brought into the fold.”

Ursula noted that Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who tied for fifth with Lia Thomas, earned about $650,000 between 2023 and 2025 through speaking fees of $20,000 to $30,000 per appearance as director of an institute funded in part by the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.