Boy Scouts of America President Robert Gates speaks at the organization’s annual meeting in May 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee
The national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America voted Monday to end a ban on gay adult leaders, clearing the way for gay men and lesbians to serve as volunteers, counselors, and in other leadership roles within the 105-year-old organization.
The new policy, which will take effect immediately, was approved in a 45-12 vote, according to a statement on the Scouts’ website.
“For far too long this issue has divided and distracted us and now it’s time for us to be united behind our shared belief in the extraordinary power of scouting to be a force for good,” Robert Gates, the organization’s president, said in a videotaped statement.
The resolution to end the ban on gay adults still allows local scout units that are chartered to religious or other like-minded organizations to continue to set their own policies on gay adults.
Earlier this month, a smaller, 17-member executive committee unanimously voted to end the prohibition and allow individual Scout units to set their own policies.
The move by the Scouts comes amid broad societal shifts in regard to gays. Nearly half of the states outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, and in June the Supreme Court struck down state bans nationwide on same-sex marriage.
The question of whether to include openly gay youth and adults has roiled the organization for years. The group successfully defended its prohibition on gay members before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000. But in the face of continued conflict over the issue, the Boy Scouts’ leadership in 2013 ended the ban on gay youth while keeping its prohibition on gay adult leaders.
At the organization’s annual meeting in May, Mr. Gates, a former defense secretary, said the ban on gay adults “cannot be sustained” and could expose the organization to litigation and continued negative public attention. He cautioned that a resistance to change could put the Boy Scouts at odds with changing societal values at a time of declining membership.
Some religious organizations expressed dismay at the outcome of the vote.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board,” the church said in a statement. “The admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.”
The church said that its “century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined.”
Some gay-rights groups believe the exception for religious organizations serves as a license to continue discriminating.
“Including an exemption for troops sponsored by religious organizations undermines and diminishes the historic nature of today’s decision,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian civil-rights organization. “Discrimination should have no place in the Boy Scouts, period.”
Write to Ashby Jones at ashby.jones@wsj.com
