A Cliffhanger for LGBT Rights in Estonia

The text traces the evolution of Estonia's LGBT+ movement from the 1990s to 2021, highlighting the 2014 Registered Partnership Act and its subsequent failure to be fully implemented. It details the hostile environment created by the EKRE party during its time in government, including a proposed referendum to define marriage strictly as between a man and a woman. While the collapse of the coalition in January 2021 cancelled the referendum, the authors argue that the new government's refusal to change the definition of marriage in the Family Law Act indicates a continuing reluctance to achieve full marriage equality.

• Despite the passage of the Registered Partnership Act in October 2014, the law remains largely ineffective because the necessary implementing provisions were never ratified by the Riigikogu.
• The failure to implement the Registered Partnership Act has led to legal discrimination, including the denial of residence permits for non-Estonian same-sex partners and the denial of national health insurance for stay-at-home parents in same-sex partnerships.
• During its time in government (approximately 2019-2021), the far-right EKRE party used its power to promote ultraconservative agendas, including a planned 2021 referendum to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman.
• The Estonian LGBT+ community faces significant social hostility; a 2019 survey found that over half of respondents viewed homosexuality as totally or mostly unacceptable, and 68% of LGBT+ students reported mental harassment in schools.
• Transgender individuals in Estonia lack the right to self-determination for gender data changes, which are often instead diagnosed as a medical mental disorder.
• The collapse of the coalition government in January 2021 cancelled the planned marriage referendum, but the subsequent coalition agreement between the Reform Party and the Centre Party explicitly states that the definition of marriage in the Family Law Act will not be changed.
• The Estonian Green Party became the first party to officially support a gender-neutral definition of marriage in October 2020, launching a petition that gathered over 35,000 signatures.

APA

Izmailova, Z., & Turovski, M. (2021). A Cliffhanger for LGBT Rights in Estonia. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-cliffhanger-for-lgbt-rights-in-estonia/

Chicago

Izmailova, Züleyxa, and Mattias Turovski. A Cliffhanger for LGBT Rights in Estonia. Green European Journal, 2021. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-cliffhanger-for-lgbt-rights-in-estonia/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Izmailova |first1=Züleyxa |last2=Turovski |first2=Mattias |title=A Cliffhanger for LGBT Rights in Estonia |publisher=Green European Journal |date=4 June 2021 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-cliffhanger-for-lgbt-rights-in-estonia/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{izmailova2021cliffhanger, author = {Izmailova, Züleyxa and Turovski, Mattias}, title = {{A Cliffhanger for LGBT Rights in Estonia}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-cliffhanger-for-lgbt-rights-in-estonia/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }