I agree with the right to choose. I personally choose to wear boots, long pants, heavy jacket(even in 100 degree temps), and full fingered gloves. I also wear a DOT half helmet and am considering a full face. Wife wears the same. We also wear chaps "most" of the time....yes, even in hot weather.
For those of you that have never been down hard...I used to wear just t-shirt & jeans. Once you've been down, you realize you need as much protection as you can stand to wear.
I've always said ... when riding a motorcycle, it's not "if" you will go down, it's "when" you will go down. I'm not saying it will be the riders fault either...most likely it will be the other person.
just my 2 cents...