> a functional democracy requires tolerance of unpopular opinions not just by the government but also by society at large
If you insert "some" before "unpopular", I'm with you. If you require "all" before "unpopular", then no, I disagree - e.g. people who believe "LGBTQ people should be done away" with, well, that's an "unpopular opinion" that should not be tolerated and, in fact, should be made anathema for anyone to express.
What other (I'm assuming redeeming since if they're not redeeming, why would we care?) properties could the opinion "LGBTQ people should be done away with" have?
If they're unpopular opinions, people are already disagreeing, aren't they? Anyway, the same way we do away with anything - gather support, shun the opinion makers, educate the rest, make it economically unviable to support the position, etc.
If you insert "some" before "unpopular", I'm with you. If you require "all" before "unpopular", then no, I disagree - e.g. people who believe "LGBTQ people should be done away" with, well, that's an "unpopular opinion" that should not be tolerated and, in fact, should be made anathema for anyone to express.