page_title: LGBT rights in Estonia
section_title: Living conditions
hierarchical_section_title: LGBT rights in Estonia / Living conditions
caption_attribution_description: English: Tallinn Pride 2017 Eesti: 2017. aastal toimus Baltic Pride raames paraad Tallinn Pride. Pildil rongkäigu lõpp Viru Väravate juures. Pilt tehtud Musumäelt.
context_page_description: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Estonia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Estonia. Since 1 January 2016, same-sex couples may register their relationship as a cohabitation agreement, which gives them almost all the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Nevertheless, same-sex couples are unable to marry or jointly adopt.
  Estonia is considered, by most, to be the most liberal former-Soviet country when it comes to LGBT rights. Acceptance of LGBT people has grown significantly since the early 21st century, though 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. According to ILGA-Europe, Estonia ranks 21st in Europe on LGBT rights legislation. This is lower than for neighbouring Finland or Sweden, but higher than Latvia or Russia. A 2017 opinion survey found 58% of the Estonian population supported an anti-discrimination law covering LGBT people, whilst 45% supported civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
context_section_description: Although Estonia is considered to be much more liberal on LGBT rights than other Baltic states, discrimination and prejudice against LGBT persons remains widespread in most parts of Estonian society. Male homosexuality was illegal in the former Soviet Union, including Estonia, although the situation seemed to be more liberal in Estonia than in most other parts of the Baltic states. Before the Soviet occupation time in the 1st Estonian Republic era (1918-1940), same-sex sexual activity was legal. In the mid-1980s, there was an unofficial gay bar in Tallinn. There was also at least one cruising area in both Tallinn and Tartu, though outside of these two cities, the gay scene was extremely invisible. The first conference dedicated to sexual minorities took place in Tallinn in 1990. At the same time, the Estonian Lesbian Society (Eesti Lesbiliit) was founded.
  Pride parades had been organised in Tallinn from 2004 to 2007, when participants were attacked and beaten by anti-gay protesters.
  In June 2006, Dutch Ambassador to Estonia Hans Glaubitz requested he be transferred to the Dutch consulate in Montreal, Canada after ongoing homophobic and racial verbal abuse being hurled against his partner, an Afro-Cuban dancer named Raúl García Lao, by citizens in the capital of Tallinn. A released statement by the Estonian authorities stated that they "regretted the incidents very much".
  From 6 to 12 June 2011, Estonia hosted Baltic Pride, a festival to promote greater support and awareness for LGBT people. Key speakers at the event included Riho Rahuoja, the Deputy Secretary General for Social Policy at the Ministry of Social Affairs; Christian Veske, the Chief Specialist in the Ministry's Gender Equality Department; Kari Käsper, Project Manager of the "Diversity Enriches" campaign from the Estonian Human Rights Centre; Hanna Kannelmäe from the Estonian Gay Youth NGO; U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Michael C. Polt; British Ambassador to Estonia Peter Carter and British photographer Clare B. Dimyon, who exhibited "Proud of our Identity" at Tallinn's Solaris Centre on 31 March. "Proud of our Identity" comprises photographs of and by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people taken at various Pride events throughout Europe, including photographs of Estonian LGBT people. Tallinn hosted the event again in 2014 and 2017.
  After the 2007 violent anti-gay attacks, no Tallinn Pride parade took place in the Estonian capital until 2017. Some 1,800 people attended the event in 2017. The pride parade also received the backing of numerous foreign embassies, including the American, British, French, German, Latvian and Lithuanian embassies, among many others.
  In February 2019, LGBT association "SevenBow", the organizers of the Festheart LGBTI film festival, sued the Rakvere City Council for cutting its funding by 80%. The city's Cultural Affairs Committee initially endorsed the group's funding applications, but the City Council cut its funding to just a fifth of the applied sum. Lawyers argued that anti-gay views motivated the cutback. In May 2019, an administrative court ruled that the council's decision to provide less funding was unlawful, and ruled that it had no justification to give a smaller grant to SevenBow. The court added that the council had also not raised an appropriate legal basis which would have allowed it to deviate from the decision drawn up by the Cultural Affairs Committee.
caption: The 2017 edition of Tallinn Pride
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