Christopher Hitchens in defense of forbidding Burqas

The French legislators who seek to repudiate the wearing of the veil or the burqa […] are often described as seeking to impose a "ban." To the contrary, they are attempting to lift a ban: a ban on the right of women to choose their own dress, a ban on the right of women to disagree with male and clerical authority, and a ban on the right of all citizens to look one another in the face.

I'm surprised that he doesn't much distinguish between forbidding the clothing in public institutions, and wearing it in private.