PHOENIX (AP) – Corporate diversity training and the increased visibility of GLBT people in pop culture have made it easier for some GLBT employees to reveal their sexual orientation, gay workplace advocates say.

But many still complain of discrimination and aren’t given the same benefits as their married co-workers.

More than 750 people are meeting in Tempe to try to help address issues faced by GLBT workers and business managers.

“Workplaces everywhere are realizing that it is time to step up to the plate and become an out and equal workplace where all people are valued,” said Selisse Berry, executive director of San Francisco-based Out & Equal, the nonprofit organization hosting the event.

The majority of heterosexuals think same-sex partners deserve the same adoption benefits and leave rights as their married colleagues, according to an Out & Equal online survey conducted in July.

Education in the workplace and television programs like “Queer as Folk” and “Will and Grace” have helped ease relationships between GLBT and non-GLBT coworkers, Berry said.

“For so long people were afraid that they would be fired or harassed, but more people are saying, ‘This is who I am,’” she said.

But the acceptance doesn’t always translate to equality in workplace benefits and policies, Berry said.

Today, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies have included sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. But only 200 of those large companies offer domestic partner health benefits.

Also, 36 states, including Arizona, still don’t offer protection against sexual orientation discrimination.

Shortly after taking office, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order forbidding sexual orientation discrimination in most state agencies, but the order applies only to those agencies under the executive branch.

The summit aims to increase the rights and benefits given to GLBT workers by teaching human resources managers, diversity executives and employees how to transform their workplaces into environments where employees are valued for their contributions and talent, not their sexual orientation, Berry said.

Workshops covered topics ranging from making workplaces more inclusive to obtaining domestic partner benefits and getting support from corporations while changing genders.