On Monday, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, over 100 translatinas, New York elected officials and their supporters will hold the third annual Translatina March to raise awareness about the transgender Latina community, fight discrimination, celebrate diversity, demand an end to workplace discrimination, and foster respect and dignity for all residents.

Jackson Heights is a predominantly working-class immigrant community -- 60 percent of its Latino residents hail from "Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Peru [or] Uruguay."

"It is also home to a rich and diverse LGBTQ hub and is one of the largest communities of transgender people in New York," Make the Road New York's Natalia Aristizabal-Betancur, lead organizer for youth and school partnerships, told Latin Post. Make the Road New York is "one of the largest participatory grassroots immigrant [organizations]" in New York state, with 11,000 members.

Roosevelt and 37th avenues' business strips include at least eight LGBTQ clubs or bars, as well as beauty salons and restaurants owned by openly LGBTQ entrepreneurs, such as Oxigeno Beauty Salon, the organization says.

Make the Road New York runs a program called the LGBTQ Justice Project, which holds weekly committee meetings attended by about 30 transgender people.

"Unfortunately, despite a diverse community there is a lot of homo-transphobia," Aristizabal-Betancur said. "It is not easy for translatinas to get jobs or be accepted. They are harassed on the street by people in the community and by police."

Stories of harassment by other residents and the police led Make the Road New York to investigate the claims; the group's report was published in October 2012: "Transgressive Policing: Police Abuse of LGBTQ Communities of Color in Jackson Heights." The group "surveyed 305 people in Jackson Heights about their experiences" with police. In the report, officers were accused of sexual abuse, routinely profiling respondents as sex workers, making insulting transphobic and homophobic remarks, and harassment.

In a survey in the report, respondents were asked to describe the levels of harassment and abuse they experienced from police, including what percentage was verbal, physical or both. Nonwhite transgender respondents recorded the highest rates of harassment, with 51 percent having experienced verbal harassment, 46 percent physical harassment and 37 percent both.

The third annual Translatina March on Monday is being held to celebrate diversity, demand an end to workplace discrimination, and foster respect and dignity for all residents.