Reuters reports:

Estonia’s parliament approved on Tuesday a law to legalise same-sex marriage, making it the first central European country to do so.

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.

“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 [photo] told Reuters after the vote.

EuroNews reports:

55 members of the Riigikogu voted in favor of the measure, while 34 voted against. Going forward, alongside marriage, people will continue to enjoy the right to enter into a registered partnership.

Such a partnership guarantees the right of registered spouses to have a say in decisions pertaining to their partner and to obtain support and benefits as needed. Couples who enter into a registered partnership will also be able to convert their status to marriage in a simplified procedure should they wish to do so.

The proposal also clarifies the Family Law Act’s regulation of parenthood in regards to same-sex couples’ adoption rights. The act is planned to enter into force on January 1, 2024.

Estonia, population 1.4 million, joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.