Estonia becomes first Baltic nation to legalise same-sex marriage

The Riigikogu or Estonian parliament, on Tuesday (June 20) approved a new law to legalise same-sex marriage, becoming the first Baltic nation to do so. This comes months after the incumbent Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’ liberal coalition government took office and nine years after the country recognised same-sex civil unions.

The vote also makesEstonia the second central European country to pass laws legalising same-sex marriage, after Slovenia which passedan amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry and adoptlast year.

What happened during the vote?

The vote on a marriage equality bill took place in Estonia’s parliament and passed with a majority of 55 votes in the 101-seat parliament with 34 votes against it. This came months after PM Kallas’ coalition of liberal and social democratic parties garnered a majority in the parliament back in March.

Additionally, the incumbentgovernment also survived a vote of no confidence that was tied to the amendments. WhileEstonia introduced same-sex civil unions back in 2014, it did not recogniseadoption rights orparental recognition which comes withmarriage.

According to reports, there will be some 85amendments to the country's Family Law Act, whileanother legislation wasintroduced which would includesame-sex marriage contracts. Additionally,words in the Family Law Actwill alsonow be modified from"man and woman" to "two natural persons."

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The law will come into effectin 2024. Notably, while same-sex marriage is legal in most countries across Western Europe that is not the case with former Soviet nations in central Europe. “My message (to central Europe) is that it’s a difficult fight, but marriage and love is something that you have to promote,” PM Kallas told Reuters, after the vote.

She added, “We have developed a lot in those 30 years since we have freed ourselves from the (Soviet) occupation. We are equals among same-value countries.” Meanwhile, two other Baltic nations, Latvia and Lithuania, have introduced bills to legalise same-sex marriage in their parliaments but are yet to move forward with any decision.

The Estonian PM, who was also the first female leader of the country, took to Twitter and said, “It’s official: Estonia has legalised marriage equality. We join other Nordic nations with this historic decision. I’m proud of my country. We’re building a society where everyone’s rights are respected and people can love freely.”

LGBTQ+ people in Estonia

According to the Estonian Human Rights Centre, attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people have changed dramatically since 2012. In the Baltic nation with 1.3 million people, at least 53 per cent of people supported same-sex marriage in a poll conducted by the rights centreearlier this year. Notably, the number was up from 34 per cent back in 2021 and also six per cent higher than last year.

However, nearly 40 per cent of Estonians still consider homosexuality unacceptable. The poll also showed that same-sex marriage was opposed by the country’s ethnic-Russian minority which makes up a quarter of the country’s population with less than half (40 per cent) supporting it.

The Ukraine war factor?

In an interview with the country’s broadcaster LRT, the president of Estonia’s parliament, Lauri Hussar suggested that the change in attitude towards the LGBTQ+ people can also be attributed to the war in Ukraine.

“I think the mood has changed also, because of what happened in Ukraine, because the war brought us to the real problems and what is really important for us,” said Hussar, as quoted by Euronews.

(With inputs from agencies)

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