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by Alar Kilp
Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia.
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Supporters of same-sex marriage protesting in Tartu, October 4, 2020. Photo: Wikimedia Common
Commentaries Estonia: Marriage Equality made real – despite opposition from the religious elite
Since January 1, 2024, same-sex marriage is legal in Estonia, making it the first ex-Soviet, second post-socialist (after Slovenia) and 20th overall country in Europe to establish marriage equality. According to the law, marriages are contracted by two adults, including same-sex couples, who also have a right to jointly adopt children. The law is an outcome of two decades of public controversy and political divide.
Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2024: 1-2. pages 106-107
Published on balticworlds.com on April 23, 2024
Since January 1, 2024, same-sex marriage is legal in Estonia, making it the first ex-Soviet, second post-socialist (after Slovenia) and 20th overall country in Europe to establish marriage equality. According to the law, marriages are contracted by two adults, including same-sex couples, who also have a right to jointly adopt children.
The law is an outcome of two decades of public controversy and political divide. The Estonian political elite (the current government coalition and MPs of Parliament) initiated and adopted the Registered Partnership Act on October 9, 2014 and the Act Amending the Family Law Act and Related Acts on June 20, 2023. The main civil society opposition for both Acts has been from the religious elite – the Estonian Council of Churches (ECC) representing ten mainstream Christian Churches and religious affiliations of about one quarter of the Estonian population.
On April 17, 2014, after the right-wing coalition government was replaced by the coalition of the Social Democrats and the Reform Party, 40 members of the Estonian Parliament submitted a Registered Partnership Act regulating financial, inheritance, care and visitation rights for cohabiting couples regardless of their sex. The Estonian Parliament legalized the Registered Partnership Act on October 9, 2014 (the Act entered into force on January 1, 2016).
Although some media outlets claimed that Estonia legalized gay marriage already in 2014, the Act adopted did not address the term ‘marriage’, and its implementing acts remained unadopted because the following government coalitions included either a center-right party — the national conservative Fatherland (“Isamaa”) — or the center-left Centre Party (“Keskerakond”) — both of whom are committed to social conservative values in this area of family policy.
Both the abovementioned Acts were adopted by Parliament during government coalitions that included both Social Democrats and the Reform Party. The Social Democrats were the first parliamentary party after Estonia’s accession to European Union to endorse same-sex partnerships and promise “to modernize the legislation of family relationships so that the rights of all types of family will be guaranteed”, which they did during the 2011 parliamentary elections. They were also the first to endorse marriage equality (from November 1, 2020).
The term “marriage equality” was properly introduced to the public media agenda (where online daily papers added the related tags to the articles) in October 2020, when the extra-parliamentary party Estonian Greens started a petition calling for the legislation of same-sex marriage.
In April 2023, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas formed her third government consisting of three liberal parties (the Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party, and Estonia 200). The coalition agreement for 2023—2027 included a promise to establish as quickly as possible marriage equality (to change the Family Law Act so that marriage will be contracted between two adults) and adopt the implementation acts of the Registered Partnership Act.
Public opinion regarding both Acts changed significantly during last decade. In 2014, the poll by the national broadcaster ERR indicated that 58% of the population were against the Registered Partnership Act. By April 2023, however, 53% of Estonians supported same-sex marriage. The significant turning point in public opinion occurred in 2021, when 47% of Estonians were shown to support same-sex marriage (up from 34% in 2012) and 64% same-sex registered partnerships.
In several public statements, the Estonian Council of Churches has considered homosexuality a sin that should not be promoted by the state; they also oppose the recognition of same-sex partnerships as families and view the establishment of marriage equality as an attempt to redefine the meaning of family. In an address to the Estonian Parliament on April 30, 2014, the ECC argued that the adoption of the Registered Partnership Act could become a serious security threat, because it encourages those who do not agree with the abandonment of traditional European values to seek support from the culture area and the state, where marriage and family are continually honored as sacrosanct.
In December 2017, the ECC released a public statement calling for an addition to the Estonian Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Before the elections of 2019 and 2023, the ECC published its expectations for the political parties running for parliament.
In 2019, ECC expressed its wish to enshrine the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman in the Constitution. Thereafter, the second government of Jüri Ratas (which lasted from April 2019 until January 2021) included the homophobic EKRE (Conservative People’s Party of Estonia), which pushed for a public referendum where citizens would have been asked whether the Estonian Constitution should define marriage as the “union of a man and a woman.” That coalition collapsed on January 13, 2021, when the related bill was passing its second reading. Prime Minister Jüri Ratas resigned because his Centre Party was suspected of “criminal involvement” in an influence peddling scandal.
In its 2023 pre-election address to political parties, the ECC maintained its position that legislation should not blur or undermine the meaning of marriage as “a union between one man and one woman.” Thus, as of Spring 2024, Estonia lacks a Christian church that would welcome homosexuals and would endorse the collective religious rights of same-sex couples.
Both Estonia and Sweden have historically been Lutheran societies. In both, marriage equality is guaranteed. According to Eurostat statistics from 2018, in both countries 54.8% of “live births [occur] outside of wedlock”, which indicates similarities in social attitudes and practices. However, the lack of liberal attitudes in the official positions of the Estonian Christian churches remains the fundamental difference. ≈
References
Alar Kilp