New Dehli, India – In a national event organized by Pehchan, Hijras highlight discrimination and demand equality for their community.

Stakeholders from government, media, policy bodies, the transgender and hijra community, and civil society came together on June 2nd for the first National Hijra Habba. The event was organized by Pehchan, a five-year program that strengthens and builds the capacity of 200 community-based organizations in 17 states to advance HIV prevention. The national consultation discussed efforts to achieve equality for transgenders and hijras and drew attention to the significant challenges faced by these communities.

Addressing the event, Gauri Sawant, General Secretary, Transgender and Hijra Welfare Board, Maharashtra, said, “In India, cases of violence go unreported as the present social and legal environment is oppressive towards transgender persons and hijras. Due to their different gender identity, they are denied opportunities to earn a living, to study, and to access health services. Even changing their names and sex in official documents is not easy.”

Pehchan collaborates with India’s National AIDS Control Program and would reach 453,750 MSM (males who have sex with males), transgenders and hijras by 2015 and is the Global Fund’s largest single-country grant to date focused on the HIV response for vulnerable sexual minorities.

Held at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra in New Delhi, the Hijra Habba included speeches, experience sharing and community performances by leaders from transgender and hijra community. In-depth discussions were held on issues including social entitlements, legal status, violence, economic vulnerabilities, and feminization.

At the heart of the event was the development of an action plan for advocacy for the next three years on priority issues for these communities. Ms. Aradhana Johri, Additional Secretary, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), affirmed the importance of these populations to the national HIV prevention strategy and acknowledged the need for continued effort to control the epidemic among transgenders and hijras.

According to James Robertson, Country Director, India HIV/AIDS Alliance, “India has been a global leader in defining an effective HIV prevention response for transgenders and hijras. The world has much to learn from this example. While progress has been made, the journey towards equality for transgenders and hijras is not yet over.”

The India HIV/AIDS Alliance (Alliance India) is a partnership that brings together organizations and communities to support a sustained response to HIV in India. Complementing the national program in India, it works through capacity building, knowledge sharing, technical support and advocacy. Through a network of partners, Alliance India supports the delivery of community-based HIV programs to key groups affected by the epidemic.

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MGM Resorts International is among the nation’s leading companies for workplace equality based on its policies and practices relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees, according to a prominent benchmarking organization.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has named MGM Resorts to its 2012 Corporate Equality Index along with 635 other major companies whose non-discrimination and benefits practices with respect to LGBT employees were analyzed for workplace inclusion.

This is the seventh year that MGM Resorts has participated in the Corporate Equality Index assessment, which focuses on corporate standards ranging from policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to equality in health care benefits.

“This ranking demonstrates our Company’s commitment to promoting human equality within our workplace as well as throughout our communities,” said Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International. ”It is our business imperative to attract and retain the very best employees by ensuring a level playing field for people from all walks of life.”

The Corporate Equality Index 2012 report is available at www.hrc.org.

This year’s report’s findings:

• While the inclusion of sexual orientation in non-discrimination policies has become a standard since 2002, the addition of gender identity is now part of the policies of 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies for the first time, a growth rate of 1567 percent since 2002.

• The number of Fortune 500 companies offering domestic partnership benefits has increased by 76 percent since 2002.

• The greatest strides have come in area of transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage. As a result of new criteria instituted by HRC this year that is a requisite to a perfect score, companies offering comprehensive healthcare coverage to their transgender workers has increased to 207 from 85 last year and 49 in 2009.

“Corporate America is leading the charge for equality in the workplace,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. ”We commend the businesses that participated in the CEI. They understand that LGBT-inclusive workplace policies are the right thing to do and good business practices.”

In 2000, MGM Resorts became the first company in the gaming industry to launch a voluntary diversity initiative and in 2004 it became the first company in the industry to offer same-sex health benefits to employees. Earlier this year, MGM Resorts expanded the benefits of its health care program to cover counseling and hormone therapy services for transgender persons.

In addition to being a committed member of the Human Rights Campaign, MGM Resorts has been an active supporter of The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada (The Center), since 2002. The Company recently pledged a donation of $300,000 to The Center to support the construction of its new building.

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