If the Boy Scouts of America approve gay adult leaders, as they are expected to do late Monday (July 27), does that mean troops based at churches may end up in court if they ban gay Scoutmasters?

Scout officials predicted that would be “unlikely” in a document they released earlier this month to BSA members and leaders.

“We live in a litigious society, and frivolous lawsuits are threatened and filed every day,” reads the 14-page memo from the Boys Scouts’ law firm, Hughes Hubbard & Reed. “However, any lawsuit challenging the religious requirements in a Scouting unit chartered by a religious organization would be unlikely to succeed or even make much progress.”

The BSA’s 80-member national executive board is set to vote Monday (July 27) on whether to drop its ban on gay adult leaders. The outcome of the afternoon vote is expected Monday evening. Scout officials say religious groups — which make up some 70 percent of chartered organizations — would still have the option to exclude gays even if the policy is adopted.