Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Estonia have advanced significantly over the course of the last few decades, especially since the turn of the 21st century. Among the countries which after World War II were controlled by the former Soviet Union, independent Estonia is now considered to be the most liberal when it comes to LGBTQ rights. There is a notable age gap, as younger people tend to be more tolerant and liberal, while older people tend to be more socially conservative.
Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Estonia, with the age of consent having been equalized in 2002. Transgender people have been allowed to change their legal gender since 1992. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited in employment, discrimination on the basis of gender identity is implicitly prohibited by law in all areas. An LGBT+ Community Support Group was formed in the Riigikogu in May 2023, with openly gay Social Democrat Eduard Odinets as its chairman.
Since 1 January 2016, same-sex couples may register their relationship as a cohabitation agreement, which gives them the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. A marriage equality bill was passed on 20 June 2023, which made same-sex couples able to marry and jointly adopt. The law took effect on 1 January 2024. A lesbian couple were the first ones to be officially married the following day. Estonia is the first formerly Soviet-occupied state as well as the only Baltic country to have legalized same-sex marriage.
According to ILGA-Europe's 2025 Rainbow Europe Index, Estonia ranks 21st among 49 countries in Europe on LGBTQ rights legislation. This is lower than the neighbouring countries of Finland or Sweden, but higher than the other two Baltic states, as well as some Western European countries, such as the United Kingdom. A 2023 opinion survey found that 75% of the Estonian population supported an anti-discrimination law covering LGBTQ people, 53% supported same-sex marriage, 71% supported civil partnerships for same-sex couples, and 61% believed that someone who was assigned male at birth could identify as a woman (or vice versa - someone assigned female at birth could identify as a man).
Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity Estonia was relatively liberal and open during the first period of independence from the 1920s to the 1930s. Same-sex sexual activity between consenting males, which until 1917 had been illegal in the former Russian Empire, was formally legalised in the newly independent Republic of Estonia when the country's parliament approved changes in the criminal code in 1929. It came into force in 1935. Before the adoption of the new criminal law, the criminal and correctional penal code of Imperial Russia was observed.
In 1940, Estonia was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and ultimately re-occupied in 1944 by the Soviets. In Soviet-occupied Estonia, same-sex sexual activity between males was a criminal offense under paragraph 118 of the penal code. At least 67 court cases and 155 men convicted under the law are known. After Estonia restored its independence on 20 August 1991, it was made legal again on 1 June 1992. This only removed the punishment for consensual same-sex sexual activity, with the paragraph itself being removed in 2001, with the adoption of a new penal code. This makes Estonia one of the few countries to have legalised same-sex sexual activity twice.
In 2002, the age of consent was set at 14 years and equalized for both homosexual and heterosexual sex. In 2022, the age of consent was raised to 16 years for all persons.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Cohabitation agreements In March 2014, a parliamentary group began to work on a draft bill to regulate the legal status of cohabiting couples. The draft bill was submitted to the Parliament (Riigikogu) on 17 April 2014. On 22 May, the bill was backed by the Government. On 19 June 2014, the Parliament rejected a motion to kill the bill, in a 32–45 vote. The bill's second reading took place on 8 October where a motion to hold a referendum on the issue was defeated in a 35–42 vote and another motion to kill the bill was defeated in a 41–33 vote. The bill's final vote took place on 9 October, where it was passed 40–38. It was signed into law by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves that same day, becoming the Registered Partnership Act, and took effect on 1 January 2016. The campaign against the law was led by the Christian conservative foundation For Family and Tradition ().
However, some implementing acts required for the law to enter into force were not passed at the time. On 26 November 2015, Parliament approved the first implementing acts on a vote of 42–41 with several abstentions. In February 2017, the Tallinn Administrative Court ordered the Estonian Government to pay monetary damages for failing to adopt the implementing acts. In September 2017, President Kersti Kaljulaid criticised the Parliament for failing to accept the implementing acts.
In April 2023, the incoming government pledged to adopt the implementing provisions for the Registered Partnership Act. With the changes to the Family Law Act on 20 June 2023, the implementing provisions for the Act were also fully implemented.
Same-sex marriages performed abroad or after sex reassignment A same-sex marriage was recognised by a court in December 2016. The couple, two men who had originally married in Sweden but now live in Estonia, had their marriage officially registered in late January 2017. Initially, a court in Harju County refused to register their marriage, but the couple appealed the decision. In December, the Tallinn Circuit Court ruled that the marriage must be entered into the Estonian population register.
In December 2021, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed that transgender people can change their legal sex while remaining married. Changes made to the Family Law Act in July 2014 permitted them to petition the court to annul such a marriage, but the Ministry had no obligation to do so. If the spouses met the preconditions for entering into a marriage at the time of marriage, then it was not automatically an invalid marriage. By 2021, there were already several couples in Estonia whose marriage had turned into a same-sex marriage as a result of the sex reassignment of one spouse. A spokesman for the Ministry said, "during the last five or six years, significant changes have taken place in society, as a result of which it can no longer be said that the marriage of a same-sex couple is contrary to Estonian public order."
Marriage equality On 8 April 2023, the incoming government of the Reform Party, Estonia 200 and the Social Democratic Party, formed following the March 2023 election, published a coalition agreement, including a promise to legalize same-sex marriage by changing the Family Law Act (Estonian: Perekonnaseadus) to define marriage as between two adults.
The government approved a draft same-sex marriage bill in May 2023 and sent it to the Riigikogu on May 15. It was approved at first reading on May 22, with a motion to kill the bill failing 27–53 and the bill moving on to the second reading. It passed the second reading 55–34 on 20 June, before being signed into law by president Alar Karis on 27 June. The bill took effect on 1 January 2024. It allows for same-sex couples to marry and jointly adopt.
Marriage applications could be filed from the moment the bill took effect. A lesbian couple, Leore and Katarina, were the first ones to be officially married on 2 January, the first work day for the Tallinn Vital Statistics Department after the New Year. The couple had originally gotten married in Katarina's native Sweden, but were able to get their marriage recognized due to her also holding Estonian citizenship. Due to the one-month waiting period mandated by the state in order to process marriage applications, other couples must wait until the beginning of February.
In response, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church () at first made a preliminary decision to stop registering any marriages, on a temporary basis. This decision was announced by archbishop Urmas Viilma, head of the EELK, in July 2023. Minister of Social Protection Signe Riisalo said that the EELK and other churches were free to make their own decision. The church may forgo the right to register marriages once and for all, according to Viilma. In 2022, only six percent of marriages were registered by clergy, with the vast majority being registered by a local government official. On 17 October 2023, the church council voted to have clergy keep registering opposite-sex marriages after the bill takes effect, but not same-sex ones.
Adoption and family law Single gay, lesbian and bisexual people may petition to adopt. Same-sex couples are allowed to foster. Same-sex couples can adopt jointly since 2024.
Due to the Registered Partnership Act, couples are allowed to adopt stepchildren since 2016. In February 2017, the Tallinn Administrative Court allowed a lesbian woman to adopt her partner's children.Court: Adoption by same-sex couple must be entered in register Eesti Rahvusringhääling, 22 February 2017 There have been other cases of same-sex couples successfully adopting. Additionally, lesbian couples have access to IVF.
Discrimination protections
Sexual orientation and gender identity As an obligation for acceptance into the European Union, Estonia transposed an EU directive into its own laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment from 1 May 2004. The Equal Treatment Act (), which entered into force on 1 January 2009, also prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, but not in the provision of goods and services.European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-Discrimination Field, Executive Summary: Estonia Country Report 2010 Report on Homophobia , Fundamental Rights Agency, p.28 Since 2006, the Penal Code () has prohibited public incitement to hatred on the basis of sexual orientation.
According to the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner, the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex and/or gender provided by the Gender Equality Act () since 1 May 2004 extends to transgender and non-binary individuals. According to the Act, direct discrimination based on sex () also means less favourable treatment of a person in connection with other circumstances related to gender (), as well as gender-based harassment and sexual harassment.
An employer has no right to demand that an employee match a gender stereotype, such as a female employee wearing make-up, clothes, or jewelry that are generally considered to be feminine. This also applies to the service sector. As such an employer cannot set barriers for a transgender employee in wearing clothes that match their gender identity. Thus a transgender woman may wear a dress in a work environment, and an employer cannot forbid them from doing so. If a person's identity documents or diploma do not match their appearance or gender identity, then they cannot be treated unfairly at a job interview because of this.