Boy Scouts delay decision on ending gay scout ban

>> are concerned in terms of this position, in terms of what it means, in terms of energy resources for the country.

>> thanks both of you.

>>> some breaking news to tell you about when it comes to the boy scouts who have been reconsidering a decades long ban on scouts as leaders as well as members. nbc's pete williams , our justice correspondent, joins me. what do you know, pete?

>> well, chris, there will be no decision today. it had been expected that the boy scouts ' board of directors ' meeting in texas today would vote on this issue. that's what the scouts had said last week. but now they've put this off until at least may. and it's also going to be decided not simply by the boy scouts ' board, but by the larger 1,400 voting members of the boy scouts ' national council . so that could change very significantly what happens here. the boy scouts say that the controversy since this came to light a week ago has produced what i'm reading now from a statement they just put out. an outpouring of feedback from the american republic, showing how deeply people care about scouting, and then they say due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership poll circumstance and therefore in order to further engage representatives of scouting's membership and listen to their concerns, this will be put off until the national council meets in may of 2013 . now, you may recall that what the boy scouts were considering here was a change in their policy that would lift the national ban on permitting troops to allow in gay scouts or scout leaders, and leave it up to local organizations to decide that for themselves so that some could permit gay members and scouts and some would not. but now even that position is being put on hold. so, you know, there's been an outpouring of views on both sides, i think it's fair to say. a lot of support from people who thought this was the right move, but a great deal of pushback as well from people who thought this was the wrong move, including churches, which are an important part of scouting's sponsorship. local scouting units well over half of them, maybe as many as 70%, are sponsored by churches. they themselves have not been unanimous on this, but clearly there's been a huge pushback, and so the scouts are putting this off until a vote of their national council in may of this year, chris.

>> pete williams , thank you for that update.