Grand Canyon Times

Arizona Superintendent of Public Education Tom Horne (R) criticized comments from former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi, who praised the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) recent “Year In Hate and Extremism 2022” report during a recent segment of MSNBC's Deadline: White House.

The SPLC report labeled organizations such as Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defending Freedom as "hate groups", in part because of the organizations' support for prohibitions on boys playing in girls sports.

“I have every sympathy for people who believe they are trapped in the wrong body, but these decisions should be made by adults and not young children," Horne told Grand Canyon Times. "The idea that people opposed to biological boys participating in girls sports are engaged in domestic terror is outrageous.”

Arizona is one of 21 states that currently prohibit boys from playing in girls sports, and Horne is currently defending the state in a federal lawsuit challenging the prohibition.

As of publication time, there are 29 states that still allow boys to participate in girls’ high school sports: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.      

Newsbusters' Curtis Houck also criticized Figliuzzi's comments in support of the SPLC report.

"Ex-FBI agent/MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi hails the SPLC report calling parents rights groups and pro-female sports advocates domestic terrorists as 'extremely comprehensive, well written, well-packaged' and proof 'hate has gone local.' He adds such groups are like the KKK," tweeted Houck.

In 2011, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed Figliuzzi to work as the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI. Figliuzzi former worked as director of the FBI's Cleveland division. 

The Washington Free Beacon reported on June 7, 2023 that White House records show the author of the SPLC report met with members of the Biden Administration on January 6 of this year.

"While it is unclear what Corke discussed in the White House visit, the meeting was held amid growing pressure on the Biden administration to track parents upset by schools' coronavirus policies and left-wing classroom curricula," reported the Free Beacon. "Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education have emerged as the leading grassroots groups in the movement against mask mandates at schools and curricula that promote critical race theory and transgender issues."

U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) criticized the SPLC, tweeting that it "is a garbage organization now dedicated to harassing groups that advocate for parents."

"In the future, their pronouncements must be met with scorn," he said.