SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church’s massive genealogical database will begin accepting submissions of names of people from same-sex relationships sometime next year.

The move doesn’t foreshadow any change to long-standing church opposition to gay marriage, but it is being done to ensure the databank has as much information as possible for researchers, according to a statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“No judgments are made as to the legitimacy or character of the relationships found in these public records, nor can they be,” church spokeswoman Irene Caso said. “They are simply collections of data to be assessed for their genealogical value by each researcher.”

Caso said church members who use the database to request temple sealings for their ancestors understand that can only be done for marriages between a man and a woman.

The genealogical database, called FamilySearch, posted a statement in April on its website updating the progress of the expansion plan first announced in 2015.