By Casey Wian and Michael Pearson, IRVING, Texas (CNN) – Boy Scout executives won’t vote this week on a proposal that would allow local troops to decide whether to welcome gay members and leaders.

The national organization’s executive board had been expected to vote on the proposal Wednesday, but said instead that it needs more time to get comment on the issue from its members.

The decision will now be made at the organization’s annual meeting in May. About 1,400 members of the group’s national council will take part during that gathering, the board said.

“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,” the board said in a statement.

In the meantime, the organization will “further engage representatives of Scouting’s membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns.”

Many conservatives and religious groups that sponsor Scout troops argued against the proposal, saying the change would dilute the Boy Scout message of morality and potentially destroy the organization.

Gay rights groups and other critics had hoped the organization would lift the ban, but had expressed concerns of their own that allowing local troops to make the decision whether to admit gays would still result in unequal treatment.

The Boy Scouts announced last month that it would consider changing its longstanding policy against allowing openly gay members.

The new policy would allow local leaders to decide “consistent with each organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs” whether to open troops they sponsor to openly gay people, the group said in a statement at the time.

The decision to even consider a change comes more than a decade after a Supreme Court ruling that found the organization has the right to keep gays out, but also amid declining participation in the venerable American institution.

Membership in Boy Scouts has declined by about a third since 1999. About 2.7 million people now participate in scouting nationwide, with more than 70% of troops affiliated with a church or religious groups.

The organization has also endured frequent criticism from gay rights groups and other critics who argue the Boy Scouts should not endorse discrimination.

Among more recent controversies, the organization came under fire last year after Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio den leader, was dismissed by her local Boy Scout officials for being a lesbian.

On Tuesday, Tyrell delivered a petition she said was signed by 1.4 million people supporting the change.

Before Wednesday’s announcement of the delay, she said she was looking forward to the change, but added it would not go far enough.

“If this ban is lifted, it’s a great first step,” she said Wednesday on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “But it’s still going to lead to kids being rejected. Families are still going to be turned away.”

Brandy Pryde, a troop leader who participated in a prayer vigil outside the Boy Scouts headquarters Wednesday, said her church would pull support from scouting if the change goes through.

“What happens when we go camping and there’s units that allow gays and homosexuals and there’s units that don’t, how are we going to keep them separated from those units and how are we going to instill in our kids Christian values and the Biblical truth if that’s allowed in our program?” she said.

A poll released Monday suggests the public is in favor of lifting the ban. The poll, conducted January 30 to February 4 by Quinnipiac University, found 55% of respondents favored lifting the ban. The school said 33% were opposed. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

President Barack Obama — who serves as honorary president of the national organization by virtue of his office — also supports opening troops to everyone.

But conservative politicians and religious leaders have argued doing so would dilute the organization’s voice and mission.

Some, including former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, have argued the change could destroy scouting. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said the change could be a “catastrophe.”

“What they’ve said to us and to other religious leaders is that they are doing this under pressure, and we’re going to give people what basically amounts to a local option,” Land said. “You can’t have a local option of a core conviction.”

Changing the policy against having openly gay leaders or scouts “would be a grave mistake,” the conservative Family Research Council and dozens of other groups said in a half-page ad in USA Today this week.

The message called on the Boy Scouts to “show courage” and “stand firm for timeless values.”

“Every American who believes in freedom of thought and religious liberty should be alarmed by the attacks upon the Boy Scouts, who have had core convictions about morality for 100 years,” the ad said. “Every Scout takes an oath to keep himself ‘morally straight.’ The Boy Scouts have every right to include sexual conduct in how they define that term.”

But others say scouting is suffering because of its policy on gays, not despite it.

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, founder of Scouts for Equality, says the ban has backfired.

When he was 10, Wahls’ Cub Scout pack had to find a new home because the Boy Scouts of America’s policy violated the nondiscrimination rule of the school district that hosted it.

“I was confused, because my den mother, Jackie — who is my actual mother — was a lesbian, and nobody in our unit had any issue with that,” Wahls wrote. The pack managed to find another sponsor — a nearby church — but “some parents pulled their kids from the pack, uncomfortable with entrusting their sons to an organization they believed engaged in discrimination.”

CNN’s Casey Wian reported from Irving and Michael Pearson wrote and reported from Atlanta. CNN’s Holly Yan, Catherine E. Shoichet and Devon Sayers also contributed to this report.

(CNN) — The Boy Scouts of America has decided to delay its vote on a proposal to allow local troops to decide whether to allow openly gay members and leaders. The organization said it needs more time to get input from its members. The vote will now be held in May.

By Casey Wian and Holly Yan, IRVING, Texas (CNN) – The polarizing debate over whether Boy Scouts of America should allow gay members could culminate with a vote on a new policy Wednesday.

But no matter which way the vote goes, activists on both sides aren’t going to be satisfied.

The controversy pits leaders of religious groups that sponsor about 1 million Boy Scouts against activists who want the organization to end its ban on openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders.

Representatives from neither camp are happy with a proposal to let local troops decide if they want to allow gay members.

“What they’ve said to us and to other religious leaders is that they are doing this under pressure, and we’re going to give people what basically amounts to a local option,” said Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. “You can’t have a local option of a core conviction.”

Brad Hankins of Scouts for Equality also sees problems with passing the decision to local troops.

“We don’t want to see scouting gerrymandered into blue and red districts. So the best solution would be to end discrimination outright,” he said.

The Boy Scouts of America has 2.7 million members nationwide. More than 70% of troops are affiliated with church or religious groups.

The debate has ignited a firestorm of comments on CNN.com and social media.

“Hopefully the BSA will make the decision to be more inclusive! I enjoyed my time as a scout, but would not want my future children to join an organization that doesn’t promote equality,” said Cole Fuller, one of thousands of readers who have shared their views in the comments sections of CNN.com stories.

Other readers slammed the organization for considering the change and criticized gay rights advocates for pushing for it.

“Take a challenge and create your own organization with gay ideals, but don’t ever force or coerce a child and don’t force us to say your lifestyle is acceptable,” said another poster, identified as Dave McFarland.

By Wednesday morning, the Boy Scouts of America Facebook page had more than 27,000 comments on the issue.

“Stick (to) the core values, Boy Scouts is not for everyone,” Adam Stoltzfus said.

Danny Kane disagreed: “We have an organization for all. It’s called the Boy Scouts of America. Segregation is not an American value.”

No lesbian den mothers

The existing policy came under fire last year after Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio den leader, was dismissed by her local Boy Scout troop for being a lesbian.

In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that Boy Scouts of America has a constitutional right to oppose homosexuality in its ranks.

“Forcing a group to accept certain members may impair the ability of the group to express those views, and only those views, that it intends to express,” then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote after the court’s 5-4 decision. He added that the decision was not meant to approve or condemn the Scouts’ view on homosexuality.

“If this ban is lifted, it’s a great first step,” Tyrell said Wednesday on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “But it’s still going to lead to kids being rejected. Families are still going to be turned away.”

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, founder of Scouts for Equality, says the ban on gays has backfired.

When he was 10, Wahls’ Cub Scout pack had to find a new home because the BSA’s policy violated a school’s nondiscrimination rules.

“I was confused, because my den mother, Jackie — who is my actual mother — was a lesbian, and nobody in our unit had any issue with that,” Wahls wrote. “… But some parents pulled their kids from the pack, uncomfortable with entrusting their sons to an organization they believed engaged in discrimination.”

Conservative groups take action

Changing the policy against having openly gay leaders or scouts “would be a grave mistake,” the conservative Family Research Council and dozens of other groups said in a half-page ad in USA Today this week.

The message called on the Boy Scouts to “show courage” and “stand firm for timeless values.”

“Every American who believes in freedom of thought and religious liberty should be alarmed by the attacks upon the Boy Scouts, who have had core convictions about morality for 100 years,” the ad said. “Every Scout takes an oath to keep himself ‘morally straight.’ The Boy Scouts have every right to include sexual conduct in how they define that term.”

Even before the recent controversy over admitting gays, Boy Scouts of America has seen a decline in membership, which has dropped by about one-third since 1999.

Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, said allowing gays would be a “catastrophe.” He noted more than 1 million Boy Scouts belonging to troops sponsored by Mormon, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches.

He said if the BSA changes its policy, many of those Scouts “are going to vote with their feet. They’re going to leave the Scouts.”

But mother Jen Traeger said the opposite is already happening.

“This national policy of exclusion and rejection of gay members is the main reason we won’t put our very young son in scouts, even though it is in many other ways a worthy experience,” she wrote on BSA’s Facebook page. “We don’t want our child to be in an organization that says that some people ar(e) better than others based on orientation, or that might kick him out after all his time and work if he himself turns out to be gay in 12 years.”

CNN’s Casey Wian reported from Irving, Texas, and Holly Yan wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet and Devon Sayers also contributed to this report.

By Ashley Fantz, (CNN) — The Boy Scouts of America is considering changing its longstanding policy against allowing openly gay members, according to a news release from the organization.

The organization, which has 2.7 million members, is “potentially discussing” doing away with its policy after months of nationwide protest, including hundreds of angry Eagle Scouts renouncing their hard-earned awards and mailing back their red-white-and-blue medals.

Many parents of Scouts across America found the national policy excluding gays confusing — and at odds with basic scouting ideals.

Social media were abuzz with outrage over the policy; gay men who used to be Scouts spoke out in first-person blogs. On her TV talk show, Ellen DeGeneres featured a California Scout who had been denied his Eagle rank because he is gay.

Members of the organization’s national board are expected to bring up the issue at a regularly scheduled biannual meeting in February. Any change would be announced after that.

In the Scouts’ statement Monday, the group indicated that decisions on gay membership would be made at the local level. Each troop’s charter organization would be able to decide “consistent with each organization’s mission, principles, or religious beliefs.”

“The policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic, or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue,” the statement said.

The statement itself is remarkable. Some members will see the fact that Scouting’s national leadership is even discussing the issue as a softening of its stance on gay and lesbians.

But some Scouts and Scout parents say that passing the decision to the local level will have little effect on the ground, because many troops have been ignoring the national policy anyway.

The announcement comes after Scouting’s national headquarters received numerous complaints from a grass-roots campaign targeting the policy.

In April, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation started calls for the Scouts to end the ban. The group applauded Monday’s announcement.

“The Boy Scouts of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that discriminating against gay Scouts and Scout leaders is wrong,” GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said. “Scouting is a valuable institution, and this change will only strengthen its core principles of fairness and respect.”

The protest was sparked last year after Ohio Cub Scout den leader Jennifer Tyrrell was forced to step down from her position in her son’s Cub Scout pack because she is openly gay.

Some critics who say that Scouts have failed to change with the times blame the connections to organized religion. Approximately 70% of Scout troops are affiliated with some kind of church or religious group, according to Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith.

Scouts for Equality reports that 11 organization councils, which include more than 260,000 Scouts, have publicly protested the policy, according to GLAAD.

The Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are among scouting’s biggest backers, Boy Scouts of America says. In 2011, Mormon-backed Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops accounted for more than 420,000 of all Scouts nationwide. More than 200,000 Scouts were members of units affiliated with the Catholic Church.

President Barack Obama — the honorary head of the Scouts, as is every president — supports gay and lesbians in Girl and Boy Scouts, as does former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a Mormon.

Last year, the Girl Scouts allowed a transgender member into a troop, sparking a cookie boycott.

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America says it is discussing “potentially removing” membership restriction on sexual orientation.  If approved, it would mean there would no longer be a national policy regarding sexual orientation, but individual organizations can make decisions consistent with their organizations’ mission, principles or religious beliefs.  Spokesman Deron Smith told Fox News that members could choose a local unit that best meets the needs of their families.  In 2012, more than 2.6 million scouts and 1 million adults were members of the Boy Scouts of America nationwide.

In York County, Ronald Gardner, the Scout Executive and CEO of the New Birth of Freedom Council for the Boy Scouts of America issued the following statement,  “This is an internal national policy discussion, and no decision has been made.  I can say that local councils agree to support the decisions made by the volunteer national executive board.  Our united focus is on working together to deliver the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.”