Coming out as an atheist today is often compared with coming out as a homosexual in terms of the stresses involved in finding acceptance among ones peers and society in general. What if you are both gay and an atheist? Does that mean that you have two coming outs to endure? Perhaps it all depends on the environment within which you are raised.

Meet Tim West. He is a 26 year old, gay atheist living in Australia. West, fortunately, had a pair of very open-minded parents who encouraged him to form his own opinions and freely develop as a person both religiously and sexually.

Tim’s full story is covered in the SX News article “Keeping it in perspective.” Here are some choice excerpts:

It is often said that gay atheists must face not one, but two coming-outs: once for their sexuality and another for their atheis

Yet for Tim West, a 26-year-old software publisher, the case has been somewhat different.

West grew up in Canberra in a household steered by very open-minded parents. “They weren’t brought up particularly religious but they were really open,” West tells SX. “I was free to make my own opinions in absolutely every way – religious and sexual.”

As a result, he never did any earth-shattering announcements or public denouncements of faith at any point in his life. West was able to form his own views from the ground up with the support of his family.

“There’s no doubt that the way you were brought up has a huge impact on how you turn out. So in my specific case, I wouldn’t be as comfortable with who I am were it not for my upbringing.”

Today, West is an active member of a loose collective made up of non-believers and humanists, known as Sydney Atheists.

…

When it comes to sexuality, West says that the atheist community are totally accepting of gay people, “without even having to ask for it”.

“And there’s none of the baggage you’ll find in any of the churches, even in the more liberal ones. When you build your world view from the ground up in a rational, liberal way, which all atheists I know have, gay rights is a no-brainer.”