>I really do think that there is a very important distinction to be made between what intrinsically makes people who they are and what is just their opinion, a matter of choice.

I really don't think people actually choose their opinions. Humans' opinions are affected by a wide variety of different conscious and unconscious stimuli, such as culture, socio-economic background, and even genetics. Humans are illogical, and will likely post-hoc rationalize their biases rather than logically thinking up an ideology.

For example, you may be religious because you sincerely believe in it, or because you just happen to grow up in a religious family. Or you may adhere to a political affiliation because you sincerely think it was a good idea...or because you live in an area that shares that same political affiliation and associate with friends with that political affiliation. Or because some celebrity endorses a political affiliation and so you follow that celebrity and so on and so forth.

Assuming humans are fully rational beings is problematic (and damageable), and it's better to provide protections than to take them away just because your own bias makes it seem okay to do so.