When Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard released a new harassment policy this week, members of the Legislature's LGBT caucus felt something was missing.

The policy prohibits workplace discrimination in the Arizona House of Representatives based on someone's race, age, national origin, religion, sex, disability or veteran status, among others.

Not included in that lengthy list: protections for House members or their staffers who might face discrimination for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

State Rep. Daniel Hernandez, D-Tucson, said he and other members of the recently formed LGBT caucus are going to push to change that.

Hernandez said while the policy allows anyone to report instances of sexual harassment, the portion dealing with discrimination should be amended to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

“I would like to see that it gets spelled out," he said, “just so there isn’t confusion or issues later on."

The House's harassment policy was released after Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, posted a public letter on social media last month, saying she has been sexually harassed by male lawmakers.

Mesnard said he didn't want to distract from the chamber's discussion about sexual harassment by including LGBT with the other legally protected classes in the policy.

“It didn’t seem, frankly, appropriate to inject a very serious policy, political debate into this, or we would just get bogged down in that," Mesnard said.

The policy includes a section prohibiting workplace discrimination based on "protected" classes under state and federal civil-rights laws. That wording excludes LGBT people, who aren't a protected class under state or federal law.

In 2003, then-Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order protecting gay, lesbian and bisexual state workers from employment discrimination.

But the executive order only applies to state agencies, not the Legislature.

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