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"This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, and the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs," a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, Deron Smith, said in a statement.

Mr. Smith added: "The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs." He said that members and parents would be able to choose a local unit that best meets the needs of their families.

Scouting, with its three-fingered salute and oath of honorable conduct, has for generations of boys and leaders held itself out as a place of high moral conduct and quasi-military upright bearing. Outdoor skills and experience were bound up, the organization preached, with the values of character. But revelations about sexual abuse by scout leaders, which have increasingly emerged in recent years with some victims and parents saying the organization shielded predators and tarnished the group's reputation as always protective of youth.

The ban on gay leaders created a kind of crosswind of criticism: Would removing the ban alienate tradition-minded families who might fear gay leaders and see them as potential abusers or boys? Or would lifting the ban attract a new generation of scouts whose families no longer feared gay leaders?

Meanwhile, a pressure for change was coming from within. A California chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, Reuters reported on Monday, is directly challenging the ban on gays by formally recommending that an openly gay former scout be awarded the top rank of Eagle.