Does rape affect a woman's virginity "status"?

This is a discussion going on, on a debate board I frequent. I was literally shocked at the responses…mainly from all women.

If a girl is raped, but was a virgin prior to the rape, is she still a virgin?
It seems many people do believe that you are not a virgin once penetrated (some even ignorantly proclaimed no hymen=non-virgin, or “no vaginal penetration” which means lots of gay people are apparently virgins.) I feel like I discussed this here somewhere…)

Does the act of sex really have that much weight when it comes to virginity? Is it up to the girl to say when she lost it?

Personally, this bothers me because of my first sexual experience was rape. I did not feel like I lost my virginity though. I never count it as a sexual encounter..I feel as if it was more of a physical thing. Emotionally, he did not take it from me, it wasn’t his to take.