About

The Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) is an intergovernmental body of 45 Member States dedicated to the protection of the rights of LGBTI persons. The ERC advances the human rights of LGBTI persons and promotes inclusive development, in both member and non-member countries, by engaging with civil society organizations, multilateral agencies, and activists from all over the world.

The 45 Member States of the ERC are: Albania; Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Cabo Verde; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cyprus; the Czech Republic; Denmark; Ecuador; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Honduras; Iceland; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Mexico; Montenegro; the Netherlands; New Zealand; North Macedonia; Norway; Portugal; Serbia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; and Thailand.

Since May 2024, under the co-chairship of Mexico and Germany, the ERC established a fully-staffed Secretariat hosted at ILGA World to facilitate its work as an intergovernmental body of Member States and civil society worldwide. The Secretariat is an independent body, accountable to the Executive Committee, and maintains administrative independence as it connects all the parties that come together in the ERC, ensuring good governance, communications, and continuity of the Coalition. It is staffed by:

• Leanne MacMillan, ERC Secretariat Manager (she/her): Leanne brings over 20 years experience as an international human rights lawyer including as the Director of Global Programmes at Stonewall, and for over a decade leading international programmes at Amnesty International. For three years, she also served as a civil society co-chair from the United Kingdom to the ERC.
• Doug A. Graffeo, ERC Secretariat Senior Officer (they/them): Doug is an accomplished rights defender, researcher, and social scientist in the fields of LGBTQI+ people’s rights and intersectional feminist justice. They have collaborated with several organisations working on human rights and justice across geographic and cultural contexts — from the grassroots level and academia all the way to the multilateral scene.

The ERC is co-chaired by two Member States, who coordinate the Coalition for a two-year term, before handing over to the next Co-Chairs. For the 2024-26 term, the ERC Co-Chairs are Spain and Colombia. The State Co-Chairs work in partnership with Civil Society Co-Chairs, who for this term are:

Governance of the Coalition occurs through the Executive Committee and Coordinating Committee, and governance of ERC civil society takes place in the CSO Core Group. 

The substantive work of the ERC is carried out in the Thematic Groups, which meet monthly to discuss thematic issues, share best practice, and produce outputs to help progress LGBTI rights.