In a statement, the organization said the decision to review the organization's ban on accepting homosexuals as members was made based on "growing input from within the Scouting family."
"Today, following this review, the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting's history, the approximate 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America's National Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone," the statement said.
The announcement was made at the Boy Scouts of America's annual national meeting, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. The organization said it did not reconsider its ban on homosexual adults as Scout leaders and that the policy remains in place.
"The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue," the statement added. "As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter."
The announcement of the policy change comes amid intense debate about the role of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts of America.
The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said that since the policy change does not take effect until next January, it will have "adequate time to study its effects."
"The NCCS will determine how it may impact Catholic chartered Scout units and activities. In doing so, we will work within the teachings of our Catholic faith and with the various local bishops and their diocesan Scouting committees," the Catholic organization said in a statement.
The Catholic Church teaches that people "who experience a homosexual inclination or a same-sex attraction are to be treated with respect recognizing the dignity of all persons," the statement said.
"The Church's teaching is clear that engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage is immoral," it continued. "Individuals who are open and avowed homosexuals promoting and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives consistent with Catholic teaching."
In a separate statement, the Washington archdiocese said the Boy Scouts of America policy change "does not affect the teachings of the Catholic Church and the manner in which the archdiocese of Washington conducts the Scouting programs under its purview."
"Scouting programs seek to instill the importance of duty to God and to country, and groups chartered through the Catholic Church witness to the faith while continuing to provide an opportunity to involve youth in the life of the local parish," it said in a statement.
"The Church, through its clergy and lay leaders, has the responsibility to teach the Gospel and encourage all people to live out the teachings of Christ -- regardless of their sexual preference."
Proponents of the change said they welcomed the move, but that the policy remains insufficient.
"We view this as a first step to full inclusion," Zach Wahls, executive director of Scouts for Equality, said at a news conference in Grapevine. "For me, this resolution clearly doesn't go far enough, but there is no doubt that for young men all over the country, this is a validation of who they are and an important testament to the ability of scouting to reconsider its position."
In the 2000 case Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling that the Boy Scouts of America was within its rights to set its own membership standards, including whether gay youths can be admitted into the organization. Since then, gay rights activists have been lobbying the Boy Scouts to change its policy and have pressured corporations who give financial support to the organization to also push for the change.
According to the organization's web site, there are more than 2.6 million youths and one million adult members in the Boy Scouts of America. Catholic parishes and organizations across the country operate more than 8,300 scouting units, including the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated Feb. 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916. Its stated mission is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.
About 70.3 percent of the more than 100,000 chartered scouting units are sponsored by faith-based organizations, according to the Boy Scouts membership data, with Catholic-chartered units totalling 8,397 with 273,648 members.
New membership standards were floated in January by Boy Scouts. It gave sponsors of local Scout units the option of welcoming gays as youth members and leaders. The Boy Scouts then decided to survey its members before introducing a formal proposal for a vote by members.
The survey showed that of the 200,000 members who responded, 61 per cent supported the current policy while 34 per cent opposed it. Boy Scouts officials then decided to put the issue before the National Council.