Officials with the Boy Scouts of America said earlier today they need more time to decide whether the youth organization will strike down its ban on gay members, the Associate Press reports.
"After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy," officials said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The announcement came at the conclusion of a three day closed door meeting held this week at the group's Irving, Texas, headquarters where the 110-year-old organization's national executive board deliberated on the controversial issue. Reports say, officials will continue to assess the membership policy with the organization's 1,400 voting member national council. They plan to tackle the issue once again at their annual meeting in May.
The Boy Scouts came under heavy pressure from both conservative and liberal groups after it announced on January 28 that it was considering lifting the ban and giving local chapters the power to vote on allowing gay members. The idea didn't sit well with gay rights activits, as roughly 70 percent of the organization's chapters are sponsored by religious groups that have support the ban.
"By postponing this decision, thousands of currently active Scouts still remain uncertain about their future in the program and are shamed into silence. We understand that this change is a huge paradigm shift for some, but this isn't a religious issue. It's simply one of human morality, and that is something common to all faiths," Brad Hankins, campaign director of Scouts for Equality, said.
Public opinion polls show a majority of registered votes favor lifting the ban. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday, 55 percent support ending the organization's exclusion of gays, 33 percent support the ban. The polled consists of 1,772 registered voters surveyed from January 30 to February 4 with a 2.3 percentage points margin of error.