I have no desire for them to be "on my side" because "my side" isn't an organized thing. There's no benefit to me for having people on "my side" and I don't care what people believe.

It's just a fact that if you are not theist, that by definition makes you atheist. That's not up for debate, because it's a logical negation of theism. A and Not A

EVERYTHING is either green or not green. EVERYONE is either theist or not theist. That's how logical negations work.

. anyone who has wondered if their ancestors are watching from beyond the grave are not atheist, they are agnostic.

Wondering whether there are ancestors watching over you has nothing to do with theism or atheism. If they don't hold a belief in a god, they are atheist. If they do, they are theist. Your hypothetical doesn't have enough info to tell which they are, because there are theists who don't believe in ghosts, and atheists who do.

only those who feel certain there is no higher power can claim gnostic atheism

Right, and there's so few of those among atheists, because it's foolish to believe that you could possibly know if a god exists or not. 99% of atheists are agnostic atheists. When you talk about atheists as a whole, you should be talking about the majority who are agnostic, and not the tiny fraction that are gnostic.

I put my chips in the "I don't hold a belief in a god, and I don't know for sure" box