The boy scouts gay ban has ended Thursday, after two-thirds of the Boy Scouts National Council voted to end the 100-year ban on openly gay scouts.

More than 60 percent of the group’s National Council, comprised of some 1,400 delegates, voted in favor of ending the ban. It will be effective January 1, 2014, the Boy Scouts said in a statement.

Openly gay scout leaders are still banned from the organization.

David Knopp, 86, who spent much of his life in scouting as a boy, then as a professional staff member and later on as volunteer in the council, was forced out of the Scouts when officials found out he’s gay. Reacting on the vote to end the ban, he said, “I see this as a good step.”

The decision to end the ban follows weeks of intense lobbying by gay rights activists and members of conservative organizations, many of them church groups that have traditionally formed the backbone of one of the nation’s largest organizations for young men.

The end on the ban is seen as a major victory for gay rights activists, but is seen as a tidal wave of change for an organization that depends heavily on faith-based groups.

The Boy Scouts’ long-standing ban on gay scouts had become a polarizing issue at the center of the debate on gay rights in the United States.

For months, the organization has been caught between two sides in an emotionally charged debate that has seen both supporters and opponents of lifting the ban threaten to withdraw support.

“I’m a happy camper,” said Mike Harrison, 71, talking to Reuters. The former chairman of California’s Orange County Boy Scouts Council voted to end the ban at a meeting of the National Council in Grapevine, Texas.

On the other hand, Chris Collier, 41, said “I just resigned from my troop.” The former troop leader in Alabama and Florida who said he would send his Eagle Scout award back to the organization’s national office.

"My grandfather earned his eagle award in 1938. I earned mine in 1990. I was hoping my son could earn his when he grew up. I'm sad, but this is their cross to bear. I'm no longer part of the organization. I'll move in a different direction."

John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer, and Eagle Scout said that the decision marked a “sad day for America.”

The vote came about three months after the organization’s leadership delayed a decision on changing its membership policy to research attitudes toward admitting gays.