We take the position that there is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.

[L’État n’a pas d’affaires dans les chambres à coucher de la nation.]

Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) Canadian politician
Comment in Canadian House of Commons (22 Dec 1967)

On the  decriminalization of homosexuality. Also reported in a remark to newsmen in Ottawa as "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation" in The Globe and Mail (22 Dec 1967). Paraphrasing an earlier editorial in The Globe and Mail (12 Dec 1967):  "Obviously, the state's responsibility should be to legislate rules for a well-ordered society. It has no right or duty to creep into the bedrooms of the nation."


 
Added on 14-Jan-11 | Last updated 1-Jul-11
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