TALLINN, June 20 – Estonia’s parliament made history on Tuesday by approving a law to legalize same-sex marriage, making it the first country in central Europe to do so. While same-sex marriage is already legal in much of western Europe, it has been a topic of debate and resistance in the central European countries that were once under communist rule and part of the Warsaw Pact alliance.
The passing of this law marks a significant milestone for the LGBTQ+ community in Estonia. Annely Lepamaa, a 46-year-old lesbian, expressed her joy, stating, “It’s like the state is finally accepting me. Until now, I needed to fight for everything. I had to go to court to adopt my own children, which is like, why? Now, I’m a human with rights.”
The bill received 55 votes out of the 101-seat parliament, with support coming from the coalition of liberal and social democratic parties led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Following the successful passing of the bill, Prime Minister Kallas emphasized the importance of promoting love and marriage, stating, “My message to central Europe is that it’s a difficult fight, but marriage and love are something that you have to promote. We have developed a lot since we freed ourselves from the Soviet occupation. We are equals among same-value countries.”
The new law is set to come into effect in 2024. In Estonia, a largely secular Baltic country with a population of 1.3 million, a 2023 poll conducted by the Centre for Human Rights revealed that 53% of the population supports same-sex marriage, marking a significant increase from 34% a decade ago.
However, despite the progress, there is still work to be done in terms of societal acceptance. According to the government, 38% of Estonians still consider homosexuality to be unacceptable. Opposition to same-sex marriage is particularly strong among the ethnic-Russian minority, which constitutes a quarter of the country, with only 40% of them supporting it.
The passing of the law was seen as an opportune moment for the government, given the positive shift in public opinion on same-sex marriage. The election results this year provided the necessary support to overcome conservative opposition. Tomas Jermalavicius, Head of Studies at the International Centre for Defence and Security, remarked, “This was a good opportunity for the government, because the public opinion on same-sex marriage has turned to positive, and after this year’s election, it has the numbers to overcome the conservative opposition.”
While Estonia celebrates this progressive step forward, neighboring Baltic countries Latvia and Lithuania, which also experienced Soviet rule, are still in the process of considering same-sex partnership bills in their respective parliaments.
In a heartwarming moment, Eeva Koplimets, partner of Annely Lepamaa for six years, proposed that they should get married after the vote. Celebrating their decision, Koplimets exclaimed, “Yeah, we are switching (to marriage)! We made our decision on TV!”
