The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, will lift the organization's ban on openly gay members.
KERA reporter Lauren Silverman says 61 percent of the 1,400 national council members meeting behind closed doors in Grapevine have voted in favor of including gay scouts.
Under the proposal drafted by the Scouts' governing board, gay adults will remain barred from serving as Scout leaders.
The outcome is unlikely to end a bitter debate over the Scouts' membership policy.
Some conservative churches that sponsor Scout units wanted to continue excluding gay youths, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted.
More liberal Scout leaders - while supporting the proposal to accept gay youth - have made clear they want the ban on gay adults lifted as well.