Living a Double Life and Experiencing Modern Sexual Prejudice: The Effect on Ecuadorean Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Workers' Well-Being

The aim of this chapter is to understand how Ecuadorean lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workers manage their sexual orientation, stressing both cultural factors that might be affecting this process and the consequences for LGB people's well-being and health. In this sense, focusing on LGB workers is important because people spend a greater part of their adult time at the workplace, which represents one of the most important contexts for people's health and satisfaction. Although sexual identity management has been a widely studied issue in the United States and Europe, little is known about this process in Latin America, and the authors are not aware of any studies in Ecuador. To understand in depth the experience of Ecuadorean LGB people, the chapter explores heterosexual people's attitudes toward LGB workers. It also attempts to identify whether heterosexual people still hold sexual prejudices against LGB colleagues in Ecuador.