<div><p>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television polygamy drama "Big Love" returns for a fourth season in January with a gay storyline that is likely to stir up controversy in Mormon circles where homosexual relations are prohibited.</p><p>The creators of the HBO cable show, about a non-Mormon polygamous family living in Utah, plan to explore a same-sex relationship between two male characters involved in a fictional breakaway sect at the center of the series.</p><p>The theme will be developed over early episodes of "Big Love" when it returns to HBO on Jan 10, the network confirmed on Wednesday.</p><p>It follows an uproar in the U.S. gay community last year over the Mormon church's prominent support of the campaign to overthrow same-sex marriage laws in California.</p><p>"There's a provocative nature to what we're doing," co-creator Mark Olsen told Entertainment Weekly magazine.</p><p>"It's more than just the Mormon culture. We're highlighting certain aspects of the church's relationship with its gay members that I think, as the story unfolds, is going to cause no (small) amount of controversy."</p><p>The 13.5 million member Mormon church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, officially banned polygamy in 1890 and has distanced itself from "Big Love".</p><p>But critics of the program say that despite its focus on a fundamentalist sect, the TV show sometimes blurs the distinction between it and the church.</p><p>"It is important to remember that 'Big Love' is a work of fiction," Latter-day Saints spokeswoman Kim Farah said on Wednesday.</p><p>"Big Love", which first aired in 2006, stars Bill Paxton as a man with three wives and eight children. The show won three Golden Globe nominations this week.</p><p>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. Both have been struggling with their sexuality.</p><p>Joel Campbell, a columnist with the unofficial church website MormonTimes.com, accused "Big Love" of again using fuzzy plot lines to "stick it to the LDS church."</p><p>"Once again it sounds like Olsen and company are ready to blur the lines between a fictional fundamentalist group and what is practiced in the LDS Church. Bottom line: Producers are using their artistic license as a screen for misinformation and bigotry."</p><p>The official LDS web site says sexual relations are governed by the Law of Chastity, which prohibits homosexual or lesbian relations and says physical intimacy should be "exercised only between a man and a woman who are legally married."</p><p>(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65561333&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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