Meanwhile, the Reconciling Ministries Network seeks to change the United Methodist Church's current teaching on homosexuality in order to make the church more inclusive of LGBT people. At the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, it was decided that the Church would retain its views on homosexuality. At the General Conference in 2016, the delegates deferred the issue of human sexuality to the Council of Bishops in what has been described as a "'historic action'. In 2016, after General Conference, several Annual Conferences voted in favor of non-discrimination clauses that effectively allowed LGBTQ clergy and which indicated that those conferences would refuse to participate in any church trials in which people were being tried for being an active homosexual. The Baltimore-Washington, California-Nevada, California-Pacific, Desert Southwest, New England, New York, Northern Illinois, and Oregon-Idaho Annual Conferences voted in favor of full inclusion for LGBTQ members and clergy. Additionally, the Virginia Annual Conference voted to petition the UMC to allow LGBTQ clergy and same-gender marriages. The Rocky Mountain Annual Conference voted to not consider sexual orientation when electing a bishop. In 2015, the Great Plains and Greater New Jersey Conferences voted to petition the UMC to allow same-gender marriages. In 2014, the Social and Ethics Ministry of the Central Conference in Germany supported an initiative to propose steps toward the full inclusion of LGBT people. In 2012, the Minnesota Conference had voted to oppose bans on same-gender marriage, and the Illinois Great Rivers and West Michigan Conferences voted that it "expressed sadness" at the actions of 2012 General Conference, and the Arkansas Annual Conference voted to encourage respect for multiple perspectives on human sexuality. The Detroit, Upper New York, and Wisconsin Conferences also supported resolutions supporting allowing same-gender marriages. Bishop Christian Alsted of the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area shared that some of the conferences within his region support same-sex marriage. Within the jurisdictions, the Western Jurisdiction and the North Central Jurisdiction have nominated three openly gay candidates for bishop. The Northeastern Jurisdiction passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay and lesbian clergy, with the New York body ordaining the first openly gay and lesbian clergy in the denomination. In 2016, the Baltimore-Washington Conference appointed an openly partnered lesbian to the provisional diaconate. In April 2016, Bishop Melvin Talbert performed a same-sex marriage as a public sign of his support for change and full inclusion of LGBT persons. The church also provides spousal benefits for non-ordained employees in same-sex marriages.