My experiences growing up in a Catholic family seem similar to yours. I don't even observe these days, or really believe in the biblical god, but I still think of myself as a Catholic, as for me it's really more cultural than anything else.

I can't once recall a priest speaking about homosexuality, or even abortion, for that matter. Maybe it happens in Catholic churches now, but it didn't then. At a Catholic mass, they read scripture, mostly from the New Testament.

Now, I was forced to attend CCD (Sunday School) until I was in high school, when I was confirmed and before confirmation, my class had an opportunity to ask questions about Catholicism's stance on anything we wanted to. One girl asked about homosexuality and the Vatican's stance on it (under John Paul II) and the priest told us he couldn't speak for the pope, but he did say that love isn't a sin and that the only thing that conflicted with scripture was the "go forth and multiply" part. As if Catholics in general have a tough time with that.

I will say that American Catholics seem to be generally more conservative than Catholics from countries where Catholicism was primarily spread by the Spanish, Portuguese or French. Sin big or go home, I guess.