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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement it was "deeply troubled" by the move and said the Mormons' "century-long association with Scouting
will need to be examined." Churches and other religious organisations account for about 70 percent of the 100,000-plus Boy Scout groups across the US. Boy Scouts of America said the
policy change "respects the rights of religious chartered organisations to choose adult volunteers whose beliefs are consistent with their own." But no adult applying for a job as
a paid employee or as a volunteer outside a local unit will be denied based on sexual orientation, the motion said. The resolution lifting the blanket ban on gay adult leaders was approved
by 79 percent of National Executive Board members who voted, the Boy Scouts said. The organisation's executive committee had unanimously recommended the new policy in July, saying there
had been a "sea change in the law with respect to gay rights." The decision follows the landmark ruling in late June by the US Supreme Court legalising same-sex marriages
nationwide. In May, Boy Scouts president Robert Gates called the blanket ban on gay leaders "unsustainable" and said it needed to change. The Texas-based organisation lifted its
ban on gay youth in 2013, but had continued to prohibit openly gay adults. The Boy Scouts of America has 2.5 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and about 960,000 volunteers
in local groups. The anticipated end of the Boy Scouts ban has been welcomed by gay rights advocates and criticised by conservatives. Scouts for Equality director Zach Wahls has labeled the
ban a "towering example of explicit, institutional homophobia." But John Stemberger, of the Christian youth outdoor program Trail Life USA, said that lifting the ban would be an
affront to Christian morals and will make it "even more challenging for a church to integrate a (Boy Scouts) unit as part of a church's ministry offerings."