Does use of the word 'gay' signal LDS shift?

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When an LDS Church spokesman, speaking for the leadership of the church, gave an unequivocal rebuke this week of all forms of cruelty against gay men and lesbians, his speech may have been as notable for its wording as for its message.

On Wednesday, Kristine Haglund, editor of the Boston-based magazine Dialogue — A Journal of Mormon Thought, pointed out in an interview on KUER's RadioWest that LDS spokesman Michael Otterson actually said the "L" word — lesbian. He also referred to the tragic suicides recently of several "gay young men" across the country.

The LDS Church usually speaks only of attractions for the same-sex, not people's identities as gay men and lesbians. The church teaches that sexual acts outside of marriage between a man and a woman are immoral.

Last month, Bishop Keith B. McMullin, an LDS general authority, told attendees of a conference for Mormons who want to "overcome homosexual behavior" to not label themselves as gay or lesbian.

"If someone seeking your help says to you, 'I am a homosexual,' or, 'I am lesbian,' or, 'I am gay,' correct this miscasting," McMullin said. "Heavenly Father does not speak of his children this way and neither should we. It is simply not true. To speak this way sows seeds of doubt and deceit about who we really are."

So when Otterson spoke of the church's support for housing and employment protections for "gays and lesbians," Haglund suggested it was an earth-rattling shift.

"You could say that's a minor grammatical point," she said in the radio interview. "But actually, in the way the church works, I think it's tectonic."

Listen to the entire RadioWest discussion here.