SALT LAKE CITY, July 27 (UPI)‐‐Utah leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People say they will file a civil rights action against the Boy Scouts of America because of a Mormon Church policy prohibiting black youths from holding key leadership positions in church sponsored scout troops.

Leaders of the Salt Lake City and Ogden chapters of the N.A.A.C.P. said Tuesday that ‘they’ were “outraged” at the policy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐Day Saints that reserves the “senior troop leader” position for the president of the local Mormon deacon's quorum.

Mormon doctrine prohibits blacks from holding the church's priesthood, though they may become church members. A deacon is the lowest rank in the priesthood. Most Mormon boys become deacons when they are 12 years old.

“While we very reluctantly acknowledge the L.D.S. church's legal right to maintain its doctrine excluding blacks from the priesthood, we are outraged when that doctrine finds expression in the church's secular activities.” the N.A.A.C.P. leaders said in a statement released following a private breakfast meeting.

The Mormon Church, which ‘for decades has tied its youth program for boys to scouting. said the National Boy Scout ororganization knew of the priesthood policy and had approved it.