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Estonian president promulgated the controversial Cohabitation Law

BC, Tallinn, 10.10.2014.Print version
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves signed a resolution, promulgating the Cohabitation Law that was approved of by the Riigikogu on Thursday, the president's office announced, cites LETA.

"The base document of the democratic Estonia – our Constitution – demands equal treatment of all people. The Estonian society cannot survive intolerance towards our own people. There are too few of us, to discriminate against anyone," said the president.

 

"The Cohabitation Law enables to regulate the property relations, maintenance obligations and other mutual rights and obligations of all couples who live together, as well as rights and obligations regarding children they raise together. Achieving the same purpose with private contracts is not possible in practice. The law does not change the definition of family: the change has already happened in real life both in Estonia and abroad," said Ilves, adding that all this is supported by the European Court of Human Rights practice: unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children as compared to the other families is forbidden. "Children's rights must be equally protected, regardless of whether they grow up with a biological mother and father, a single parent or foster parents, including a biological mother or father, and her/his same-sex partner," said President Ilves.

 

He said that the cohabitation law has been prepared and discussed for many years, intensively since the spring of this year. In societies that respect human rights, same-sex couples have the right to live a family life and not experience the disapproval and unequal treatment of the society, stressed the head of state.

 

"The adoption of the law will not change anyone's sexual orientation, will not lead same-sex families together or apart and won't alter the fact that children grow in these families. There is no connection between adoption of the law and survival of the Estonian people," said President Ilves. "Estonia has to be the best imaginable place for all Estonian people. For us, each person is important. Kind and understanding attitude towards one another and each other's choices in life makes Estonia bigger, better and more confident."

 

Politicians and activists expressed to the Estonian Public Broadcasting their views on the passage of the Cohabitation Act by a 40-38 vote in the Parliament yesterday.

 

Marko Mihkelson, IRL MP, commented on Facebook on his decision to abstain from voting, saying that in principle he has always supported the bill.

 

"I am convinced that Estonia's ability to succeed at the international level is also dependent on how open and tolerant our society is," he said to explain his decision to not vote against the bill, but added that: "I did not vote for the bill either because its authors have failed to explain its nature and aims sufficiently, because many of the proponents have started labelling the doubters and the opposition all the while talking of tolerance, and because the hasty processing of the bill has led to fissures in the society. We have a lot to learn from these proceedings," he said.

 

Kristen Michal of the Reform Party said before the vote that the bill has been in development for years, so all references to it being unexpected and rushed is distortion of the facts. "Even the Chancellor of Justice has ruled the bill to be in accord with the constitution. This law will not change what marriage represents," he said.

 

Kadri Simson, one of four Center Party members who supported the bill, said that she has read a number of public statements and opinion pieces from both sides and that most of her supporters admit that the bill will have little to no impact on them personally.

 

Eiki Nestor of the Social Democrats said that he voted yes because the bill has the support of Estonian youth and he would not wish to explain to his children and grandchildren why he voted against it. He added: "This bill is not a "coalition bill" but was proposed by individual MPs, so claims that the coalition has forced it through are not correct."

 

Imre Sooäär, Reform Party MP and an initiator of the Act, said: “The Civil Partnership Act is another step closer to a more tolerant and socially inclusive society. I am extremely thankful to my colleagues who supported the bill as real statesmen in spite of strong opposition, and who stood for democracy and human rights even under great pressure.”

 

Peeter Rebane, a London-based film director and proucer and advocate for the Act: “It was a long fight for us to achieve something so basic and obvious. This act will guarantee the same-sex couples their fundamental rights that so-called traditional couples take for granted – a right to establish a family with the loved one, raise children, and enjoy financial benefits equal to married couples.”

 

Kari Käsper, head of the Estonian Human Rights Center, a human rights watchdog NGO: “By passing this law, Estonia gave an example to all countries in this region who hopefully will follow us. I am extremely glad that we are drifting away from Soviet-minded homophobia and moving towards free and tolerant society where all people are valued the same way and everyone has equal rights,” said

 

Kristjan Vassil, a research fellow at the Institute of Government and Politics at the University of Tartu, says that the for and against camps are divided along the lines of age and first language, rather than education, religious beliefs and income.

 

Vassil's unofficial study, published in his blog on Wednesday, is based on the poll conducted by the social and market research company Saar Poll shortly after the last European Parliament elections.

 

His analysis showed that support for the legalization of same-sex marriages is largest among the Estonian-speaking youth, and especially among those who use e-voting and are happy with the way democracy currently functions in Estonia. People who do not use e-voting and are not satisfied with the present system are the most likely to be against same-sex marriage.

 

People who voted for the Reform Party or the SDE are also more likely to support same-sex marriage than are those who voted for the Center Party or the IRL.

 

However, Vassil found that there is actually no clear statistical association between support for or disapproval of same-sex marriages and personal characteristics – education, marital status, religious views, income and so forth – commonly held to influence one's view on this issue.

 

"I find that what we have here is a conflict of values between generations and, to a lesser extent, between cultures. General characteristics that should measure how conservative an individual is – marriage, faith, determination – are outweighed by the age factor. It is possible that the results are influenced by the way they were measured but I am inclined to think that the conservative views of those opposing the cohabitation bill are not reflected in the society to an extent that they could be used as a key argument. Those who are married do not support same-sex marriages any more, or less, than those who are single. Those who are religious do not support same-sex marriage any more, or less, than those who do not consider themselves religious. The same applies in general to fortitude. So the values on which the rhetoric of the no-campaign relies on, are not reflected in these statistical results (at least not in the given set of three-month old data)."

 

He added that the data that underlies his analysis allows to conclude with reasonable conviction that the question of same-sex marriages is something that will find a natural solution, because the number of those in favor of it can only increase as time goes by. "So the question is not if, but when, the cohabitation bill is passed," he said.






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