State Senate updates harassment policy
Action criticized for not including ‘gender identity’ protections
PHOENIX — A move by Senate leadership to update the chamber’s harassment policy is provoking some criticism over what is not included.
The comprehensive new policy, the first update since 2005, details the kind of conduct considered unacceptable. It covers not just faceto-face sexual harassment but anything else considered creating a hostile work environment.
For example, it would be a violation to post cartoons, pictures or calendars containing anything that could be considered a slur based on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age or disability.
And it even covers sexual orientation.
But Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs said it doesn’t go far enough in one respect: It does not extend similar protections based on “gender identity.’’
“Many Arizonans identify as a gender different than their sex assigned at birth and they should have the same rights as their peers to enjoy a work environment that is free from harassment,’’ the Phoenix Democrat said in a prepared statement. “There should not be a reason for anyone to feel unwelcome at the Senate.’’
A spokesman for Senate President Steve Yarbrough said the Chandler Republican would have no comment on the decision not to include gender identity.
While Hobbs is complaining about the gap in the Senate policy, it actually is more comprehensive than the one recently updated by House Speaker J.D. Mesnard.
It only extends antiharassment protections to those who fit into categories defined in state and federal anti-discrimination laws. And that not only excludes issues of gender identity but does not include sexual orientation, leaving harassment against gay and lesbian legislators and staffers as a non-violation.
And Mesnard said he’s not interested in changing that, suggesting the timing is wrong to even consider it.
“It isn’t appropriate to inject a contentious political debate into the important national discussion on sexual harassment,’’ the Chandler Republican told Capitol Media Services. “Thus, the House policy maintains consistency with state and federal law.’’
Various efforts to extend Arizona’s anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation have gone nowhere.
About the closest thing the state has is an executive order issued in 2003 by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano prohibiting state agencies, boards and commissions to discriminate in employment on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation. That order, which remains in effect, also spells out that any type of harassment based on sexual orientation “shall be a cause for discipline, up to and including termination of employment.’’
That order, however, governs only the executive branch and has no force in the Legislature which sets its own rules.
The question of Arizona’s state policies and laws arose earlier this year on the heels of the NCAA removing all events for the season out of North Carolina after that state’s legislature took a series of actions the board of directors concluded ran afoul of the organization’s “values of inclusion and gender equality.’’
But Gov. Doug Ducey, at an event to promote the Final Four tournament in Phoenix, said he does not believe Arizona’s lack of laws protecting gays and transgender individuals from discrimination will prevent the state from landing future national events, as what happened in North Carolina.
And Ducey said he has no intention of asking the Legislature to change the statutes.
The governor acknowledged Napolitano’s executive order — and the limits of its scope.
“I’m not in the habit of telling the Legislature and other elected officials what they should be doing,’’ he said.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, also at the same event, said he favors expansion of protections.
“I believe that the state of Arizona should pass a nondiscrimination law that would protect all LGBT citizens,’’ the mayor said. And he said it’s not just to ensure that Phoenix and Arizona can get similar sporting events in the future.
“We’re competing for talent,’’ Stanton said.
“We want Arizona and all of our communities to be as competitive for talent as possible,’’ he continued. “And when you pass laws like that it sends the right statement about your values as a community.