GEC joins policymakers at Equal Rights Coalition to affirm role of legislators

The Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) convened this month in Argentina from 8-9 September, where government officials, activists, and - supported by GEC - legislators came together to assess progress in Member States and formulate a work agenda for the next term.

The ERC is an intergovernmental forum that focuses on the best ways to advance rights for LGBT+ people globally. It is important for legislators to be plugged into these discussions as policy implementation and legal reform is driven and approved by national parliaments.

With support from the Global Fund, we brought legislators from across Latin America to attend the summit. Our Deputy Chair, Tamara Adrián of Venezuela, featured on a panel where she talked about the role of legislators in changing the law, with Susel Paredes of Peru speaking on a panel assessing the rise of anti-gender movements around the world.

Aside from the main conference agenda, we convened a meeting with legislators and Victor Madrigal, the UN Independent Expert on SOGI, to discuss banning conversion practices and what work is needed across Latin America to protect the LGBT+ community through legislation.

We are pleased that, following discussions and advocacy, banning 'conversion therapy' has been explicitly identified as a priority for the ERC in its new term. We will be working with the new co-chairs Mexico and Germany to help advance this priority.

GEC also launched our new report Decriminalising HIV: Strategies and best practice for legislators, sponsored by Gilead, on the margins of the ERC at an event supported by JP Morgan Chase. A full summary of the event will follow soon.