Legislation
Åland has largely followed Finnish legislation in the LGBTI field. Åland is governed by the Åland Parliament and the Provincial Government, which enact implementing legislation tailored to local circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation has been prohibited since 1995, and since 2005 the Discrimination Act has also included gender identity or expression. Registered partnerships were introduced in 2002, and in the same year it became possible to change one’s legal gender. Same-sex female couples have been able to receive IVF treatment (also known as in vitro fertilisation) since 2007. Under the new Maternity Act of April 2019, parenthood is automatically recognised for same-sex couples who have a child through assisted reproduction by mutual consent. Parenthood can thus be established as early as during pregnancy – rather than through an adoption process for the non-gestating partner.
It has been possible to change one’s legal gender in Åland since 2003, but at that time this required a diagnosis and sterilisation. Since 2023, the determination of legal gender has been separated from medical diagnoses and treatments under the Act on Gender Determination, and sterilisation is no longer required. (FFS 295/2023). Gender-affirming hormone therapy has been permitted in Åland since the 1970s, but in practice there is a lack of access to care, and those seeking treatment are referred to hospitals on the Finnish mainland or in Sweden via the Åland health and medical services in order to undergo their treatment.
Policy and key factors
Today, LGBTI issues fall under the remit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. One of the Åland implementing laws stipulates that all Åland authorities have obligations in the LGBTI field. Discrimination legislation follows that of Finland, with some local adaptations.
The Åland Ombudsman’s Office is responsible for monitoring compliance with equality legislation. The Åland Ombudsman’s Office is an independent authority which, under the Provincial Act, is tasked with promoting and safeguarding the individual’s right to equal treatment, with sexual orientation being one of the grounds for discrimination. The Authority’s latest survey, Upplevd diskriminering i det åländska samhället 2025 (Experiences of discrimination in Åland society 2025) does not report any specific data for respondents belonging to a sexual minority. Among respondents who consider themselves to belong to some form of minority (ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability) in Åland, 65 per cent stated that they have experienced discrimination. This is significantly higher than among those who do not consider themselves to belong to any minority, where the corresponding figure is 29 per cent. In 2018, the Local Government decided to appoint a working group to draw up an action plan to make society more accessible, safe and inclusive for LGBTI people in Åland. In 2019, the first action plan was adopted; Handlingsplan för hbtqia-personers lika villkor i det åländska samhället (Action plan for equal opportunities for LGBTQIA+ people in Åland society) and the updated plan, to be published in spring 2026, is valid until 2031. The working group for the updated plan includes representatives from the education sector, the social sector, the Patient and Client Ombudsman, and the Government Secretariat.
The group working on the action plan noted at an early stage that statistics and information on LGBTI issues in Åland were lacking, and that there was a need to assess the current situation, set priorities and identify areas for action. Furthermore, the plan notes that the public health surveys conducted in Åland lack questions relating to LGBTI issues. In a small (fewer than 50 respondents) cross-sectional survey, which were carried out in connection with the development of the action plan, just over nine out of ten respondents stated that they felt the treatment of LGBTI people was generally different from that of other people in Åland. Three in ten stated that they felt lonely. The survey and questionnaire responses in the action plan also show that experiences of and fear of discrimination, violence and harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression are common within the LGBTI community in Åland.
Civil society
The Åland LGBTI Action Plan describes how the development of LGBTI rights in Åland has primarily been driven by individual activists, the third sector such as NGOs and private actors. In the early 1990s, the first Åland LGBTI organisation, Vildrosorna, emerged. Vildrosorna consisted of a few passionate individuals who organised regular LGBTI meetings at designated locations. Today, it is instead the LGBTI organisation Regnbågsfyren that is active. Regnbågsfyren began its work in 2005 and is currently engaged in awareness-raising, political advocacy and other social and support activities, such as writing letters to the editor, organising events, acting as a consultative body to the provincial government, and providing information in schools about a norm-critical approach and what it is like to be an LGBTI person.