I can kind of relate to this. I was raised Catholic as well, and although I am no longer religious, my parents and many of my relatives are as well. But personally, for me, I've never understood homophobia. I mean, love is love, right? That being said, it's taken me a long time to feel comfortable with my sexuality, and if I'm being honest, it's something I'm still working on today. Even though I consider myself an atheist, having so many Catholic relatives and having gone to Catholic school for thirteen years, it's sometimes difficult for me to separate the feelings of guilt I get.

I really do think your therapist has a point, and this is definitely something I would recommend continuing to work on with him. There really isn't anything wrong with being gay, or whatever your sexuality is. But an important part in the process is learning to accept yourself. Believe me, I understand why this is difficult, but I've found that just acknowledging my sexuality to myself really made me a lot happier.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my experience with you, in the hopes that you might find it helpful. My first serious relationship was with a guy, and I tried so hard to make it work. I thought that because I liked him as a friend, maybe I could somehow fall in love with him. But the longer we continued to go out, the unhappier I was. Eventually, sometime after we broke up, I came out to my parents. My dad was totally cool with it, but it took my mom quite a bit longer. I still haven't come out to my more conservative relatives, but I hope to someday.

I'm now dating a really awesome girl, and I have to say that I've been so much happier now that I've come a long way in accepting myself. I really hope that you'll get to that point too someday.