denomination. The Judicial Council also affirmed that a Virginia pastor had the right to deny local church membership to a man in an openly gay relationship. This affirmation, however, was based upon a senior pastor's right to judge the readiness of a congregant to join as a full member of the church. On the other hand, hundreds of United Methodist ministers have openly defied the official position of the United Methodist Church and have publicly revealed their "lesbian, gay or bisexual" sexual orientation, an action that could result in their suspension. The official website of the United Methodist Church reported that "Retired United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, for the second time, has defied church law to officiate at a ceremony celebrating the union of two men." One Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the New York Annual Conference, has voiced disagreement with the denomination's official stance on homosexuality and "announced it would not consider sexual orientation in evaluating a clergy candidate." The New York body also ordained the first openly gay and lesbian clergy. In addition, the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC approved the appointment of an openly partnered lesbian to the diaconate. In 2016, the Western Jurisdiction elected the denomination's first openly and partnered lesbian bishop. While not elected, the UMC reported that the North Central Jurisdiction considered the nomination of an openly gay pastor for bishop. Additionally, the Northeastern Jurisdiction passed a resolution calling for change to The Book of Discipline. However, two United Methodist bishops "voided two resolutions in the Northeastern United States that called for defying church restrictions." Similarly, the United Methodist Bishops of the Central Conferences of Africa unanimously called for "unreserved commitment to the Holy Bible as the primary authority for faith and practice in the Church" and proclaimed that "sexual relations are affirmed only within the covenant bond of a faithful monogamous, heterosexual marriage, and not within same-sex unions or polygamy." At the same time, the Alabama-West Florida Conference" passed resolutions upholding the denomination's rules on homosexuality" and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference "approved a resolution that urges the conference to demand clergy accountability to the Discipline's 'rules of our common covenant,' and to call upon clergy to challenge those rules only 'through legitimate channels of holy conferencing, rather than breaking that covenant.'" The Southeastern Jurisdiction also voted to maintain the current language in The Book of Discipline. Although there is no official