As part of the series that discusses ‘peripheries’ in the Baltic states, Rasa Kamarauskaitė (RK) of the BASEES Study Group on the Baltic States interviewed Estonian sexuality scholar Rebeka Põldsam (RP). In this interview, Rebeka shares her thoughts about normalisation of queerness in Estonia.
RK: Could you introduce yourself and your work?
RP: My name is Rebeka Põldsam. I study the queer past, present and future in Estonia. In 2023, I defended my thesis entitled ‘“Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia.’ at the University of Tartu. The title is a quote from an interview with a lesbian activist. While she was signing the informed consent agreement, she looked at the working title of my study, which was ‘History of non-normative sex and gender discourses in Estonia’ and said: ‘Why is it still abnormal? Everything has changed! We are not abnormal anymore.’ And I felt that questioning abnormality was a good position for writing about the queer past and present in Estonia. It is true that public discourse about sexuality and gender has changed a lot since the Soviet period, especially after Estonia legalised same-sex marriage in 2023. Over the past decade, fewer and fewer people in Estonia believe that homosexuality is a deviation or associate it with negative ideas.
However, there is a loud far-right conservative populist minority that wants to find an enemy within the country, and they demonise sexual and gender minorities by claiming that homosexuality is a vice imported from the West. Fortunately a few were able to counteract such claims with studies on homosexuality in Estonia in at least the past 150 years (e.g., the popular history volumes “Kalevi alt välja. LGBT+ inimeste lugusid 19. ja 20. sajandi Eestist” (in English: Bring back to light. Stories of LGBT+ people from 19th and 20th century Estonia) and “Kapiuksed valla. Arutlusi homo-, bi- ja transseksuaalsusest” (In English: Closet Doors Open. Essays on Homo-, Bi- and Transsexuality) which both are based on scholarly research.
RK: Could you tell me more about the projects and activities which have helped to counteract far-right conservative populist claims that homosexuality is not part of Estonian national culture?
During my final year as a doctoral student, I curated an exhibition, ‘From “such people” to LGBT activism. Stories from sexual and gender minorities in the 20th century Estonia’, at the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedoms in Tallinn. The exhibition was the outcome of a larger research project ‘MNEMUS. Practices and Challenges of Mnemonic Pluralism in Baltic History Museums (2021-2025)’. At the start of the project, the team asked the collection keepers and curators who work at Baltic memory museums what they were missing in their displays. The lack of LGBTQ+ visibility and lack of LGBTQ+ history in museums was one of the issues that they brought up. As a result, I was invited to make this exhibition as an addition to the permanent display “Freedom without Borders”. The display is a supplement (in the style of Virginia Woolf or Jacques Derrida) to the main exhibition. Therefore, rather than opposing the homophobia of the past, it offers glimpses into how people’s lives have been shaped by homophobic social structures across nearly a century.
Fragments from the exhibition ‘From “such people” to LGBT activism. Stories from sexual and gender minorities in the 20th century Estonia’ [vabamu.ee]. Credit: https://vikervaade.ee/ [vikervaade.ee]
Recently, myself, Adomas Narkevičius and Inga Lāce co-curated an art exhibition ‘We Don’t Do This. Intimacy, Norms and Fantasies in Baltic Art’ at MO museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. The exhibition was about depiction of sexualities in the Baltic from the 1960s to the present. It aimed to show sexuality from a variety of perspectives including straight and queer, men, women and trans people of all different ages and social backgrounds. We aimed at showing the multi-dimensional nature of sexuality and I think we achieved it.
In addition, last year I started working in a project ‘Imaging queer aging futures: a study of LGBTQ aging in Estonia, Poland and Sweden.’ Linn Sandberg from Söderton University is the principal investigator of this project; I work on the Estonian case study and Joanna Mizielińska, and Agata Stasińska conduct the study in Poland. My research in Estonia has shown that marriage equality in the country has brought euphoria among middle-aged and older LGBTQ+ people. Nevertheless, in the interviews they often emphasise that homophobia has not yet disappeared.
RK: It is amazing that (queer) sexualities are featured more and more in museums and art exhibitions in Estonia and the other Baltic States. How about Estonian academia? What place do sexuality/queer studies take within it? Are they marginal, central or somewhere in between within the Estonian academic world?
Sexuality studies are not new in Estonia. There have been bachelor and master level theses written about queer sexuality from as early as 1990. However, my doctoral thesis is the first defended project which focused on queer issues and theory in Estonia. However, other doctoral projects conducted by artists Anna-Stina Treumund and Jaanus Samma also engaged with the queer past. As an editor of the Estonian gender studies journal Ariadne Lõng (in English: Ariadne’s Clew), I don’t think that gender and sexuality studies are as marginal as they once were and we are certainly witnessing an increase in queer research. There are more and more PhD students such as Sara Barbo and Aet Kuusik who studies linguistics, and Eha Emilia Oras who studies interwar period trans history in Estonia, in addition to Finnish political historian Riikka Taavetti and folklorist Andreas Kalkun, who are already established scholars. In other words, queer studies is finding its place within various academic departments.
Since there are only several scholars who work on queer topics in Estonia, we, of course, all know and support each other. Also, I am very inspired by the research of scholars who work on Baltic sexualities in other countries such as Ineta Lipša, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Riikka Taaveti, and Rasa Navickaitė. I think most of the scholars working on post-Soviet queer topics can learn a lot from each other and support each other.
RK: I agree that we can and should learn from each other and support each other. I was wondering if the growing field of queer research reflects the positive changes in everyday social discourses in Estonia. What kind of conversations are prevalent, and do they change over time?
I think that changing discourses about LGBTQ+ in Estonia are well-reflected by the changing terminology. Aet Kuusik recently published an article about the Estonian equivalent of queer which is kväär. I co-invented this term in 2010 and started to use it in my publications. I was inspired by Sara Ahmed’s and Jack Halberstam’s work which defines queer as something that has several negative layers to be reclaimed. Kväär sounds similar to väär, which means false, but also with väärikas, which means dignified. So, like the English queer, the Estonian kväär has both empowering and demeaning connotations. According to Kuusik’s study, in recent years the use of queer or kväär has increased. The increase demonstrates the growing need for diverse, politicised public discussions about non-heterosexual sexualities. To an extent, the term replaces the abbreviation ‘LGBT’ which reached Estonia with the discourses of the European Union, the Equal Rights Commissioner, and the protection of LGBT people’s rights. In this context ‘LGBT’ was regarded as a politically charged term.
The legal changes also influenced public discourse. When Estonia passed a marriage equality law and a registered partnership act in June 2023, the public discussion had already started to shift from sexuality to transgender issues, especially trans youth. The transphobic ideas from Christian extremists have emerged within waves of transphobic articles in Estonian media. For example, a research study that discussed how to improve access to gender transitioning in Estonian healthcare was followed by an article by an angry anonymous parent who wrote that access to gender transition should not be made more accessible. I do not study these issues, so I cannot confidently tell you where it is all coming from, but it seems that Estonian conservative media follows the anti-trans rhetoric of the West and republishes it in Estonian. For example, J. K. Rowling’s anti-trans statements are regularly picked up by Estonian conservative media. However, at the same time I see some positive improvement too. The Estonian trans movement is getting more and more organised and growing stronger after a gap of almost twenty years.
Estonian media plays an important role in shaping discourse. In 2024 the Estonian national broadcast featured same sex-marriage in their daily news programs at least five times. They featured the passing the new law in a celebratory manner, interviewed same-sex couples who were getting married, and gave a survey on same-sex marriages and divorces during the first 11 months. It was interesting to see the people on screen who were previously not engaged in any activism. I think this is really great. I have always seen activism as working to improve the rights of those who can’t do it themselves. The current events proved that ‘Marching for those who can’t’ is not an empty slogan, but it has indeed helped many people to get married, to come out to others, or to come to terms with themselves.
RK: Would you say that same-sex marriage and registered partnership act are not a controversial topic in Estonia anymore?
I think that conservative politicians may still be against the law, but they know that there is very little that they can do about it. It would take at least seven years of parliamentary procedures to change it. Therefore, opposition to the same-sex marriage law cannot be used to garner votes. Furthermore, I think people are less and less interested in this discussion.
On the other hand, we did not have space to discuss the controversy of passing this law. The 2023 government made several very unpopular decisions related to tax increases. To redeem themselves in the eyes of the public and to show that they are ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’, the government hurriedly passed the marriage equality law and improved hate speech law.