The Mormon Church altered its position on the LGBT community earlier this week when church leaders made an announcement on Jan. 27 that they would support government protection from discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Church leaders specifically mentioned support for legislation providing protection in jobs, housing and public accommodation for members of the LGBT community.

The change comes seven years after the controversial California Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage was passed in the November 2008 election — a propostion the church widely supported. It was ultimately ruled unconstitutional by a federal court.

In a public statement, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, encouraged nondiscrimination, calling for protection of LGBT people in housing and employment. He also carefully balanced his statement, encouraging protection of religious freedom.

“Accusations of bigotry toward people simply because they are motivated because of their religious faith and conscience have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and public debate. When religious people are publically intimidated, retaliated against, forced from employment or made to suffer personal loss because they’ve raised their voice in the public square, donated to a cause or participated in an election, our democracy is the loser,” Oaks said.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Latter Day Saints, opened the news conference on Jan. 27.

“To those who follow the church closely, who are familiar with its teachings and positions on various social issues, it would be apparent that we are announcing no change in doctrine or church teachings today. But we are suggesting a way forward in which those with different views on complex subjects can together seek solutions that would be fair to everyone,” Christofferson said.

Currently, California is one of 18 states in the U.S. that has state workplace protections for all LGBT workers.

It is also one of 36 states with marriage equality.

But it is precisely because of church’s involvement with Proposition 8 that it is so intensely involved in reviving its image, according to Lorri. L. Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Jean and her family come from the Mormon faith.

“This is a change from so many years ago but not so dramatic a change from the past five years or so — ever since the Mormons took such enormous heat for being the driving force behind the passage of Proposition 8,” Jean said.

She does not believe the church is acting out of sincerity or rectification. She sees this as a “calculated attempt at the heart to sound more sensitive.”

“They’re doing this not from the goodness of their heart but because they have joined forces with fundamentalist religious players around the country whose new strategy is to try to gut nondiscrimination legislation by inserting a religious exemption,” Jean said.

For Jean, the Mormon Church’s recent public statement and their involvement with Proposition 8 hits close to home, not just because of her family background but because of Los Angeles being home to many Mormon LGBT youths who struggle with discrimination at the home.

“I got a touching letter around the time of Proposition 8 from a young Mormon, a kid here in town who wrote to me that his family had been talking to him about how good Proposition 8 was. He had seen me on TV. His family didn’t know he was gay. One day, he didn’t go to church, said he was sick. He took a bus to the center but was afraid to come in. He never came in,” she said.

Later, the young boy emailed Jean and told her never to stop fighting and that the work she and the center were doing was for kids like him.

The Mormon Church’s announcement comes at a time when the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage sometime this year.