I really wanted the column to run. I didnt think it would, but I felt obligated to try to get it in.
Toward the end of last month, before the Seattle Storm hosted the Indiana Fever, I spoke to people attending a rally in support of Sophie Cunningham outside Climate Pledge Arena. The Fever guard had recently taken a stance against biological males competing in womens/girls sports, and a few dozen folks showed up to express their gratitude for her position.
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One of them was 16-year-old Ahnaleigh Wilson, whod lost to a biological male in a track and field race in eighth grade and was holding a sign reading “Thank You Sophie for Speaking up for Girls!”
I didnt know if I was going to write something at that point, but after she allegedly got cussed out by a Storm co-owner during the game, I felt like I had to weigh in.
One thing Wilson emphasized to me at the rally was that she wasnt anti-trans. Another student-athlete named Frances Staudt â who said shes endured daily verbal abuse after refusing to play against a biological boy in a basketball game â echoed Wilsons sentiment.
So that was the thesis of my column (which you can read here) â that supporting the separation of biological females and males doesnt automatically make you transphobic, so lets stop throwing those labels around.
I sent a draft after talking to my editor the morning of Friday, July 31, telling him there was no rush to run it. He told me later that day that he and others were looking at it, but that it wouldnt be ready for Sundays 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 wasnt going to run because I didnt tell him I was doing this in advance. I didnt 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.
SEATTLE TIMES COLUMNIST RESIGNS AFTER PAPER ALLEGEDLY REFUSED TO RUN ‘SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS’ COLUMN
My response? To resign on the spot.
That may come off as an emotional decision, but it was exactly what I was prepared to do. This, after all, was one of several columns of mine that had been spiked at the Seattle Times.
One was a piece questioning whether players for the U.S. Womens Soccer Team were really the victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit. Another was a more general column on cancel culture in sports. The last, written shortly after George Floyds death, implored people to listen to state-champion basketball coach Mike Bethea â a black man urging the public not to stereotype cops. The common theme? All of these challenged prevailing newsroom narr
