Estonia’s parliament approved on Tuesday a law to legalise same-sex marriage, making it the first central European country to do so.
The law will come into effect from 2024.
The move comes just two months after the country’s new liberal coalition government took office, and nine years after the country introduced same-sex civil unions.
In April, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas promised to legislate for same-sex marriage “as fast as possible”.
“I’m proud of my country. We’re building a society where everyone’s rights are respected and people can love freely,” she said on Tuesday.
Attitudes to same-sex marriage in the country have changed dramatically since 2012, according to the Estonian Human Rights Centre.
It found that 53% of Estonian people currently support marriage equality. This is up six percentage points from two years ago, and a sharp increase from 2021 when just 34% of Estonians supported it.
Speaking to broadcaster LRT a week ago, the president of Estonia’s parliament, Lauri Hussar, referred to opinion polls showing a change in attitude but also suggested the war in Ukraine was a contributing factor.
“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,” he said.
“It united us in helping Ukraine and also brought us to the roots of liberal democracy and therefore, I think it brought us to think about what is important for us as a society.”
He acknowledge that there remained opposition among “the church and the conservatives”, but pointed to other countries, stating: “I want to point out one very interesting thing, that in every society where same-sex marriage has been legalised, it hasn’t been any issues anymore, because the issue has been closed and the society moved forward.”
