A preliminary perusal of the 2020 LDS Handbook, released today and weighing in at 806 pages, reveals some areas where the Church has apparently softened its approach on sexual issues, and others where it is taking a harder line.
On the side of tempering its position, take surrogacy. The 2010 Handbook stated that “the Church strongly discourages surrogate motherhood. If parents want a child who was born to a surrogate mother to be sealed to them, the stake president refers the matter to the Office of the First Presidency” (17.3.16 Handbook 1, 2010). The new combined Handbook reiterates this discouragement, but then qualifies it.
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