DALLAS, Texas — The Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee unanimously approved allowing gay adults to serve as leaders, a major step toward dismantling a policy that has caused deep rifts in the 105-year-old organization, officials said on Monday.
The group’s National Executive Board will meet to ratify this resolution on July 27, the Boy Scouts said in a statement.
“This resolution will allow chartered organizations to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation, continuing Scouting’s longstanding policy of chartered organizations selecting their leaders,” it said.
The decision drew a supportive response from a leader of the Katahdin Area Council, which oversees Boy Scouts of America packs, troops, crews, events and activities for six Maine counties — Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington.
“We’re going to follow national policy and take it from there,” Scott Harvey, the council’s Scouting executive, said late Monday afternoon.
The Boy Scouts of America is organized in Cub Scout packs, for boys ages 7-11; Boy Scout troops, ages 11-18; and Venturing crews, for males and females ages 14-21, nationwide. Local scout groups select their own leadership.
“We’ve always followed what the national policy team says,” Harvey said, adding that the executive board “has always had the best interest of Scouting at heart.”
Asked if Monday’s decision would have any local impact, Harvey said, “No, not at all.”
Harvey said he did not know if there currently are any gay Scout leaders in Maine.
“Not that I am aware of. It’s not on the applications or anything like that,” he said.
A message seeking comment from the Pine Tree Council, which oversees Scouting programs in the rest of the state, was not immediately returned.
Not everyone in Maine applauded the national move.
Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, said the decision jeopardizes the relationship between some churches and Scouting.
“With the recent Supreme Court decision regarding marriage, churches who adhere to the Biblical definition of marriage have been advised to limit activities that are not central to their mission,” Conley said in an email Monday. “Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts’ decision will hasten that process.”
In May, Boy Scouts of America President Robert Gates told the group’s national meeting that the ban needed to end, saying the status quo cannot be maintained.
The Irving, Texas-based organization lifted its ban on gay youth in 2013 but continues to prohibit the participation of openly gay adults. The selection last year of Gates as president of the Boy Scouts was seen as an opportunity to revisit the policy.
Gates, as U.S. secretary of defense, helped end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that barred openly gay individuals from serving in the military.
Bangor Daily News writers Dawn Gagnon and Judy Harrison contributed to this report.