The Georgia House is expected to vote on a controversial immigration bill today.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Matt Ramsey, is similar to a laws passed in Arizona last year that drew national criticism from privacy advocates and pro-immigration groups.

Opponents of the bill range from medical advocacy organizations to gay rights groups. Paulina Hernández, co-director of Southerners on New Ground, says HB 87 as just as bad, if not worse, than Arizona's legislation.

Hernández believes HB 87 will especially impact transgender people and individuals who do not fully pass in their gender presentation. Hernández says the bill will set “the cross-hairs on folks already vulnerable in our community.”

SONG and other organizations are gathering at the Gold Dome today at 2 p.m. to protest the anti-immigration bill and to call on Gov. Nathan Deal to veto the legislation if it moves through the General Assembly.

SONG is also holding an LGBT community forum at the Phillip Rush Center tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. to cover how the proposed immigration reforms will affect Georgia's LGBT citizens. A second town hall-style meeting is also scheduled at the Phillip Rush Center on March 8 and will focus on how to engage the LGBT community in the immigration debate.

For more information, please visit www.southernersonnewground.org.