Estonia legalizes same sex marriage
Estonia became the first central European country to legalize same sex marriage on Tuesday, June 20. The bill received 55 of 101 votes in the Estonian parliament. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas indicated to Reuters that she considered the law to be an indication of development and growth since Estonia's time in the Soviet Union.

"We have developed a lot in those 30 years, since we have freed ourselves from the [Soviet] occupation," she said. "We are equals among same-value countries."

Estonia remains at the forefront of LGBTQ+ legal rights among Baltic countries compared to neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, which were also part of the Soviet Union, but still only 53% of Estonia's population supports same-sex marriage according to a 2023 poll by the Centre for Human Rights. Estonia also has legal protections for changing one's gender without requiring medical procedures and laws to prevent housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity according to Equaldex, a site dedicated to measuring the current status of LGBTQ+ rights worldwide.

Estonia's new law will come in to effect next year.