However, 38% of Estonians still consider homosexuality to be unacceptable. In the largely secular Baltic country of 1.3 million, 53% of the population supported same-sex marriage in a 2023 poll by the Centre for Human Rights. We are equals among same-value countries,' she added. 'We have developed a lot in those 30 years, since we have freed ourselves from the (Soviet) occupation. 'My message (to central Europe) is that it's a difficult fight, but marriage and love is something that you have to promote,' Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Reuters after the vote. The bill received 55 votes in the 101-seat parliament, from the coalition of liberal and social democratic parties which Kallas has assembled following her strong win in the 2023 election. I had to go to court to adopt my own children, which is like, why?' she added. 'Until now, I needed to fight for everything. 'It's like the state is finally accepting me,' said Annely Lepamaa, 46, a lesbian.

Same-sex marriage is legal in much of western Europe but not in central European countries which were once under communist rule and members of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact alliance but now members of NATO and, largely, the EU. TALLINN, June 20 (Reuters) - Estonia's parliament approved on Tuesday a law to legalise same-sex marriage, making it the first central European country to do so.