Is it normal that I'm extremely confused about religion?

I think above all you should be who you are inside instead of worrying so much about issues of race and gender. Maybe you're just kinda agnostic? As a Roman Catholic I believe you're a child of God, and you have an eternal soul. You're so much more than whatever external affiliations you have, we all are. God gave you a free will for a reason. You don't have to jump from such extremes as Christian to Atheist so quickly, just for the sake of labeling yourself so as to fit into a neat little box for other people. You have the right to take your time to decide and you can even choose not to decide. I think your Mom sounds like a wise woman. Prayer and meditation will bring discerment, it won't happen overnight, but it will come.