Same-sex marriage is now legal under Estonian law as of 1 January 2024, ERR reports. The law allows two consenting adults to marry irrespective of their gender. Minister of Social Protection Signe Riisalo said that the law ensured equal rights, ending years of legal uncertainty. Same-sex couples, previously able to register civil partnerships, now enjoy…
If Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda decides to veto the government’s bill on gender-neutral civil unions, it would cause an “international scandal,” Economy Minister Ausrine Armonaite, chairwoman of the liberal Freedom Party, stated, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview on Ziniu Radijas, Armonaite urged Nauseda to take a stronger position on “defending European values.” Nauseda has not…
Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amendments to a controversial law that protects minors from information about LGBT people, LRT reports. The ministry proposed removing a provision stipulating that “information that denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family” than the one enshrined in the Constitution is harmful to minors. The…
Estonia’s parliament, the Riigikogu, will start processing hundreds of amendments submitted by opposition parties to block legislation if they are not withdrawn, deputy speaker Toomas Kivimägi (Reform) stated, ERR reports. Kivimägi said that he had asked the opposition’s Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond), and Fatherland (Isamaa) to withdraw their submissions…
The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) will temporarily suspend marriage registrations as of 1 January 2024, Postimees reports. Archbishop Urmas Viilma said that the decision was due to “practical reasons.” He noted that the church’s questions on what legislative amendments that legalised same-sex marriages meant in practice remained unanswered. He pointed out that members of…
Hundreds of people took part in the Vilnius Pride march in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on 1 July 2023, LRT reported. The march was organised by the Trans Autonomija association and civil society initiative Demonstruokimes (Let’s Demonstrate). Families with children and foreign guests had come to express their support for the Lithuanian LGBT community. Participants…