Great timing - I just got back from an Orthodox-hosted Shabbat lunch (I always have mixed feelings about going into a gender role-driven environment, but this rabbi and rebbetzin are pretty good about not making egalitarian people feel out-of-place.)
TL;DR: your friend is more or less wrong.
First off, I'd suggest that you read back through this thread itself, because so much of it has been dedicated to whether/how a non-heterosexual orientation can be reconciled with Judaism. We had Glowy here at the time, and she was furnishing an Orthodox perspective, whilst the rest of us were discussing Reform/Conservative Judaism and homosexuality.
I think that most Jews, including many Orthodox, accept the existence of homosexual orientations. There are gay Jews within every domination. It is most difficult within the Orthodox world. Orthodoxy teaches that sex between two men is strictly forbidden per Leviticus (Vayikra). Sex between women is not mentioned in the Torah, but is seen as subject to a lesser rabbinic prohibition. The documentary "Trembling Before G-d" chronicles the lives of gay Orthodox Jews. Here's an example of a Jewish group for Orthodox gay people:
http://www.orthogays.org/ Some gay Jews believe they are called to be celibate; some believe that intimacy short of intercourse is permissible; others are fully intimate with their partners and have varying beliefs on the religious permissibility of that. I haven't observed many Orthodox people outside of Israel take very strong stances against homosexuality, but in Israel, the ultra-Orthodox have reacted violently against gay pride parades in Jerusalem (for instance).
Conservative Judaism, the "middle" denomination, is more or less accepting of gay Jews, though it will depend on the specific congregation. I favor a conservative shul in Berkeley, CA, which has happily been performing same-sex commitment ceremonies for years (well before the movement originally okayed it), has many openly gay members in same-sex relationships, etc. In late 2006, the movement first agreed to accept gay and lesbian rabbis and officially said that commitment ceremonies were okay. The acceptance was intermediate and quasi-grudging: for instance, they said that because bisexuals could choose an opposite-sex relationship, that would be the preferable course of action. (This partly relates to the movement's beliefs on the importance of procreation, raising Jewish children, etc.) But essentially, some Conservative congregations are very accepting, have LGBT social groups and dating nights, etc; others are not really there at this point. I'd say Conservative Judaism's official position is now to the left of many other religious denominations in the US, of all faiths.
Reform Judaism, the largest US Jewish denomination, takes an officially liberal stance on the issue. It supports same-sex marriage (including religious ceremonies), ordains openly gay and lesbian rabbis, and does not express a preference that bisexuals should choose opposite-sex relationships. It has several synagogues nationwide, especially in LA, NY, and SF, that are LGBT-majority. The one in SF, my former shul, has now developed a LGBT-themed (and yet beautifully traditional in many ways, apart from its inclusiveness) prayerbook that I think you would quite enjoy glancing at if you get a chance. In addition to the usual prayers, it has prayers for special lifecycle occasions unique to the LGBT community, like coming out to parents or transitioning genders. Before we say the Mourners' Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, we always say an English language prayer remembering the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who have been persecuted or killed or committed suicide because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Although sad, it's a meaningful way to take a moment within the service that might not seem directly relevant to people who haven't recently suffered a loss, and to suddenly make the whole congregation feel it is immediately relevant and important. I always found it powerful to recall the deaths of sexual and gender minorities through time, some of whom may never have been mourned.
Anyway, I think that any openly gay and religious person could find a niche within the Jewish world, but that it would be fairly unusual for an openly gay person who was not born Orthodox to embrace Orthodoxy. I'm sure there are a few who have done so, but it seems likely that it would be a very emotionally painful choice on multiple levels.
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). And a good and sweet year to all my friends here. 
)
It also influenced me in adopting some sephardi customs - the Jews of Greece are sephardim.
