LDS owned FamilySearch to provide records of gay and lesbian couples

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — FamilySearch, a nonprofit family history organization owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced Wednesday that by 2019, records of gay and lesbian couples will be provided on FamilySearch Family Tree.

FamilySearch.org is the largest genealogy organization in the world and the change is being implemented to fulfill the goal of recording “an accurate genealogy that represents the past, present and future families of the world,” according to the FamilySearch website.

Here is the full statement released by FamilySearch:

“The goal of FamilySearch.org is to capture, store, and provide records and an accurate genealogy that represents past, present, and future families of the world. To support this goal, same-sex relationships, including same-sex parents and same-sex couples, will be provided in FamilySearch Family Tree. Several systems that surround Family Tree, such as tree and record searching, must be significantly redesigned to support same-sex relationships before Family Tree can release this capability. We expect to finish this work by 2019. Following this work, the FamilySearch Family Tree application can then allow same-sex information to be recorded. We appreciate your patience and desire to preserve the world’s genealogy in Family Tree.”