Gay Storyline Comes to Big Love

Golden Globe-nominated Big Love plans to explore a gay story line when the HBO series about a Mormon polygamous family living in Utah returns in January for its fourth season.

ABC News reports that the gay storyline will begin when the first episode airs on January 10.

"The first episode of the new season involves Alby, a son of the leader of a fictional polygamist group, in a 'close encounter' with a male trustee," according to ABC News, based on a story from Reuters. "Both have been struggling with their sexuality."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which officially banned polygamy in 1890, seeks to distance itself from Big Love and any resemblance between the fictional fundamentalist sect it portrays and real Mormons.