Born this way, baby

[TaraJo]

People sexuality shouldn't a reason to be an atheist IMO. I have read many posts here and elsewhere where people say they have separated themselves from their religion because they were not excepted for their sexuality. If that is your only reason then, doesn't it mean you agree with religion except for that one issue? As the guy in the video you posted states, he is a christian and gay, just like the catholic priests.

No, but it can open people's minds to think in ways we aren't generally encouraged to think.

I remember, back in the late 90's, I read an article in the newspaper where Jimmy Carter was talking about leaving the Southern Bapitst church. It was surprising because Carter was always very religious, but also because the SBC had been becoming increasingly conservative and demolishing the line between politics and religion. One of the questions that was asked was why he didn't leave them sooner. His answer? He never really questioned it before. His father was always a Southern Baptist, his brother was always Southern Bapitst, his friends were always Southern Bapitst, and it was just something you accepted and never really questioned.

I'm watching my boyfriend go through something similar. He used to be a devout Mormon, but the LDS church is extremely homophobic, not to mention they believe in very rigid gender roles. When he realized homophobia is wrong and those rigid gender roles are wrong, it forced him to do something he had never done before: question the church he was raised with.

I think, when you're gay (or trans), it forces you to question your religious beliefs if your religious beliefs are homophobic. Sometimes people are able to rectify their religious beliefs with their homosexuality, sometimes they aren't. But just getting them to ask those questions is very meaningful.

As for why we turn atheist over it, that's simple. The first step to getting a theist to become an atheist is to get them to question their religion. And homophoic religious beliefs do that.