Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in an interview that the country’s recent string of book bans is “castrating” children. 

Schools and library systems across the country have been hit by pressure from parents and conservative lawmakers to ban books that contain certain themes, including LGBTQ and African American history and literature.

In an interview on MSNBC, host Jen Psaki asked Moore for his thoughts on the recent book bans some have implemented. 

“I continue hearing people making the argument that we’re doing it because we want to we want to prevent our students from having discomfort or guilt,” Moore told Psaki. “Because we don’t want our students to be able to really wrestle with these really difficult things in times when they are maturing as individuals and difficult historical points. But the thing I realized and I wanted to speak out about is that’s actually not true. It’s a guise.” 

“It’s not about making kids feel uncomfortable. It’s about telling other kids that they shouldn’t understand their own power,” Moore added. “It’s castrating them.”

Moore’s remarks come a month after a Miami-Dade County elementary school banned the poem that American poet Amanda Gorman recited during President Biden’s inauguration in 2021, issuing restrictions on Gorman’s poem and three other books after a parent objected to them, claiming that the titles included topics that were inappropriate for students and should be removed.

Florida has been at the epicenter of educational controversies as its state legislature, along with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), has pushed legislation to limit material and curriculum taught in schools. In January, DeSantis’s administration rejected an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, saying the content “significantly lacks educational value.” 

The NAACP issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, saying the state has become “hostile to Black Americans” under DeSantis’s leadership.