The Church of Latter-Day Saints demonstrated a recent shift in their stance on homosexuality by softening their attitude towards gay people, Fox News reported.

Although the Mormon Church was active in California's Proposition 8 -- a ballot proposition organized to overturn the state's ruling that legalized gay marriage -- their new website suggests a more welcoming approach to the gay community. The recently launched site encourages gay people to stay in the church and also says they will no longer advise gay people to marry the opposite sex.

The church also showed a changing viewpoint when they supported the Boys Scouts' decision to allow gay boys in their organization. Additionally, members who were left or were once banished from the church for being gay are now being welcomed back despite being in same-sex relationships, according to the News & Observer.

"For those who have been around as long as I have, to have Mormons and gays in the same sentence is quite something," said Bob Rees, a visiting professor of Mormon Studies at the Graduate Theological Union and the University of California, Berkeley.

However, other church leaders have suggested the modified view does not mean old principles will be left behind. At a biannual conference last weekend, church apostle Dallin H. Oaks said laws cannot "make moral what God has declared immoral."

The move by the Mormon church follows one similar to the Catholic Church after Pope Francis famously said "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" The pope's several remarks about moving focus from homosexuality and abortion to poverty has gained him international acclaim from leaders and churchgoers around the world.

Wendy and Tom Montgomery, a self-proclaimed devout Mormon couple who has a gay son, left their congregation after receiving ridicule for supporting him. They are now working with the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University to encourage other members of the church to ease their stance on homosexuality.

"It made me question everything," said Wendy Montgomery, 37, on her son's sexuality. "I'm looking at this 13-year-old boy who is totally innocent and pure and an amazing kid and I think, 'Either everything I know about homosexuality is wrong, or my son is not really gay. And, he's obviously gay.' I kind of had to unlearn everything I had learned."