I’m neither gay nor atheist, and in general I have no problems with gays. I know lots of atheists, though, and to the best of my knowledge, none of them are any more prejudiced than the non-atheists I know.
Yeah, you can go ahead and ignore this post, it really didn’t add anything.
Straight atheist female here, and I’m a strong atheist, too. My feelings can be summed up just like this: Gay people exist, hey, I work for a lesbian, they deserve to get married, handsome gay guys kissing are hot.
End of thought process.
Atheist straight female. Gay people are great in my book.
Well, really I’m an agnostic. I can’t say I’m truly an athiest because I have the half-serious theory that the Universe as we know it is kind of like “The Sims”, and God is one of those players that likes to go into build mode and delete the swimming pool ladder so that the Sims drown. Which is silly, yet somehow it has the ring of truth about it. At any rate, I don’t rely on the Bible for my morality, and I think gay folks should be equal under the law to everyone else. I’ve always been particularly scornful of the whole “Gay Agenda” notion. As I said back in January on Metafilter:
Number of people who have tried to convince me to become Christian: Oh, I’ve lost track, there have been so many. Ok, I grew up in Colorado Springs (home of Dobson and his dobsicrous minions), which might skew this number higher, but still, it’s not that unusual.
Number of the above people who have taken their convincing to the level of annoyance or harrassment: About 30%.
Number of straight men I have been involved with who have tried to convince me I should be bisexual so that they could get a threesome: 2
Number of gay people who have ever tried to convince me I should become gay: 0
Atheist here. I have no problem with gay people. What other people want to do is their business and I really couldn’t care less.
I was raised in a Christian home but I learned to think for myself about four years ago and haven’t looked back. My parents are awesome, and raised my brother and I in a very tolerant, love-everyone kind of way. They never said anything about gay people being bad, or people of different races or religion being bad. Be that as it may, I asked my mom if she voted against gay marriage and she said yes.
Atheist here as well. Certainly don’t care who anyone else is sleeping with, as long as everyone’s consenting.
My agnostic mother would have been just tickled if any of her daughters brought home a girlfriend.
This post: Priceless.
Dammit, you took mine, except I was going to say faaaaabulous.
Straight Male Atheist.
I don’t know a person is gay unless they hit me in the head with the info. Statistically, there are probably at least 3 or 4 gays at my place of work. I don’t know who any of them are. I don’t care. I don’t see how it’s relevant to my everyday contact with them. Would not in any way affect my attitude toward a person.
Goes without saying of course that I support gays’ rights to equality under law, including marriage.
Gay/Straight. To me it makes no difference.
I heard that only one of Matt Lucas and David Wolliams is Gay. Which one? (assuming the rhumour is true) I’ve always assumed it was David. (But matt is ‘the only gay in the village’)
Strainght male atheist. No problem with gay people.
Lots of problems with religious people, though.
Female heterosexual atheist weighing in. Completely in support of full rights for gays and gay couples, including marriage and adoption. The only time I care about whether or not someone is gay is if they’re potentially a sexual partner, in which case it is helpful to know to avoid embarassment. Other than that, why would I care? Doesn’t matter to me whether homosexuality is caused by biological or social factors either; I seriously doubt it’s a choice, but wouldn’t care if it were.
Herding cats is much easier than getting atheists to admit they agree on anything, but I’ve found that there are many issues about which atheists seem to be almost 100% in agreement on. Gay rights is one of them. I’m sure there are atheists who object to homosexuality, but I have yet to meet one or, until this thread, even hear of one.
I disagree.
I have to say I agree with the herding cats thing. 
However, I do have a problem with gay people. There simply aren’t enough of them. If only there were more, so that gay visibility would be through the roof, and no one would be able to see gay people as being some sort of abstract stereotype. Sure, I can point to such and such a historical figure, and state that they where gay, but damnit, I want it to be at the point where there are threads here like, “Are there any famous people who aren’t gay?” More gay people damnit. :mad: 
Straight atheist. Of course gays are okay and deserve the same rights as anybody. That’s how I vote.
On top of that, we’re both (overlapping) minority groups. We gotta stick to together, because the religious right would just as soon run us outta the country for being atheist as for being gay.
('course we don’t get fired or beat up or denied so many rights. But if enough people get their way, that may change. It’s scary)
I have to wonder how many atheists, even with the purported anonymity of such a forum, would admit to homophobia if asked?
To provide some honest data (not to say anyone else has been dishonest), I’ve certainly harbored homophobic attitudes throughout portions of my life, and probably still do to some extent.
When I first had the conscious experience of another man coming on to me, my callow response was one of internalized fear that it all might mean I, perhaps, look gay or something.
I’ve found some individuals who fit the “flaming queen” stereotype both comical and a little repellant.
I’ve found some stereotypical “bull-dykes” more than a little intimidating, not the least because I assumed they must hate my hetero-white-male guts, being bull-dykes and all.
I’ve been genuinely astonished that, WHAT? He’s GAY? Get out! He’s like a frigging lumberjack, for crying out loud. Gay? Really? You mean, like, gay gay? Well I’ll be damned.
I’ve been genuinely astonished that, WHAT? She’s a LESBIAN? You’re kidding me. You are so fucking lying to me. She’s a total babe, for crying out loud. Oh, gawd, say it isn’t so. Gay? Seriously? Damn!
I’ve asked my wife, with real apprehension in my heart, “So, is everybody at this party but me going to be gay again?” Upon hearing that, yes, it’s entirely likely everyone with a Y chromosome but me will be most emphatically, even dramatically gay, I’ve heaved a big sigh, mentally prepared myself for yet another all-night Broadway review, and discovered much to my own shame that’s not even remotely how the evening actually turned out.
Etc.
In short, I’m just as big an idiot as the next guy when it comes to some of this stuff, and it’s only through experience that I’ve shed some (hopefully most) of my homophobic baggage. I’d be a liar if I said it “didn’t matter at all to me”. It does matter. I still find myself reacting a bit differently to someone who is homosexual than someone who isn’t, perhaps largely because I have this bizarre fear I’ll get a case of 24-hour-Tourettes and say something stupid, like one would expect some hick Maine ex-pat might say.
However, I can honestly say, from the time I can remember being aware of homosexuality as an “issue”, that I never wanted to see people harmed for it. For all my stupid hang-ups, learing about the terrible things that have happened to people because of hateful attitudes toward their sexual orientation has always filled me with a desire to see such injustice completely eradicated. I also aspire to be the sort of person to whom sexual orientation is no more consequential than hair color, but I’m regrettably not that free of what I must assume are residual irrationalities. Again, it’s through experiencing other people that I surmount these ridiculous notions and anxieties, and hopefully I’ll actually become the sort of person I hope to be, in that regard.
As an atheist, I don’t believe God has it in for gay people.
As a straight man, I don’t understand the motivations of gay people. Then again, I don’t understand the motivations of sports fans or people who own snakes as pets either.
I hope this answers your question.
Most of the above wasn’t homophobic.
Straight male atheist. Politically, a centrist. And I vote.
Don’t and never had any “problem” with gays, gay marriage, gay rights, gays in the military, etc. (And, as an American male between 16-29 years old, I admit that I’m automatically bound by the laws of the universe to think of lesbianism as “hot.” )
I’m an atheist, possibly a rabid one. No problem with gay people. My closest friend right now is gay, and she’s cool as hell. One of my favorite compliments came from a gay man – said, “If I were straight, I would so ask you out.” What a sweetie!
I was raised in a Christian family. My mother forced me to go to the Methodist church for about ten years. My brother turned into a devout Baptist, and my sister is very faithful as well. In fact, there was no reason for me to turn into an atheist, but I did. I also have no problems with homosexuals.
Unfortunately I cannot say that about the rest of my family. It kind of embarrasses me to repeat some of the things my parents and siblings have said over the years. Especially my mother. She’s slapped me before for saying something positive about a homosexual. I’ve tried over the years to change her mind about that, but I’m afraid it’s too difficult of a task for me.
My friends who are agnostic or atheist could care less about what kinds of freaky sex people have in their bedrooms. Or maybe they want to watch, I dunno, never talked to them about that. But they are all tolerant, easygoing people.
So, in my personal experience, Christianity and homophobia go hand in hand.