On Friday, new Boy Scouts of America President Robert Gates said he would have allowed openly gay adults to take leadership roles within the organization last year.

The organization, which serves roughly 2.5 million youth, has experienced a decline in membership and an increase in battles regarding their policy that allows openly gay boys in the Scouts but not adults, The Associated Press reported.

Gates, who oversaw the end of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military as the former Secretary of Defense, was appointed by the organization's national leadership to be the new president earlier this week.

Prior to speaking at the BSA's annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday where he addressed the controversial policy, Gates spoke with the AP and said he supported the inclusion of openly gay leaders but is deciding not to challenge the decision to bar them, which was made democratically.

"I was prepared to go further than the decision that was made," Gates said. "I would have supported having gay Scoutmasters, but at the same time, I fully accept the decision that was democratically arrived at by 1,500 volunteers from across the entire country."

At last year's BSA annual meeting, the National Council voted to allow openly gay youth. The vote came after a months-long debate that drew protests from both sides, the AP reported.

Gates said on Friday that any action to reopen the issue would harm BSA's future.

"Given the strong feelings -- the passion -- involved on both sides of this matter, I believe strongly that to reopen the membership issues or try to take last year's decision to the next step would irreparably fracture and perhaps even provoke a formal, permanent split in this movement -- with the high likelihood neither side would subsequently survive on its own," Gates said in his speech.

The BSA tapped Gates, who was retiring from the Defense Department, to become the new president following Wayne Perry, the departing leader. Perry said AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson was expected to take his place this year, but Stephenson agreed to give Gates his two year term now.

"We need America to know what the Boy Scouts can do for the youth of America," Perry said.

He added that Gates "immediately can reach an audience that we wouldn't otherwise reach."

Related