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	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.</p>
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	The group&#39;s National Executive Board will meet to ratify this resolution on July 27, the Boy Scouts said in a statement.</p>
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	&quot;This resolution will allow chartered organizations to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation, continuing Scouting&#39;s longstanding policy of chartered organizations selecting their leaders,&quot; it said.</p>
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	In May, Boy Scouts of American President Robert Gates told the group&#39;s national meeting that the ban needed to end, saying the status quo cannot be maintained.</p>
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	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.</p>
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	Gates, as U.S. secretary of defense, helped end the &quot;Don&#39;t Ask, Don&#39;t Tell&quot; policy that barred openly gay individuals from serving in the military.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/boy-scouts-committee-approves-allowing-gay-adults-to-serve-as-leaders-31374236.html">http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/boy-scouts-committee-approves-allowing-gay-adults-to-serve-as-leaders-31374236.html</a></p>
