Taiwan recognized same-sex marriage for the first time. Here are the scenes of joy.

Same-sex couples tied the knot in emotional scenes in Taiwan, the first legal marriages in Asia hailed by activists as a social revolution for the region. (Reuters)

Taiwan last week became first place in Asia to recognize same-sex unions, in what is considered a landmark achievement for LGTBQ rights. On Friday, the first couples began tying the knot at Taipei’s Xinyi District Household Registration office.

Hundreds of same-sex couples exchanged vows, according to Time magazine. Throngs of reporters with cameras filled the office, alongside couples dressed to wed, as the unions were made legal.

The legislature of the island near China voted last week, 66 to 27, to recognize the marriages, beating a two-year deadline established by Taiwan’s high court on May 24, 2017. The court ruled then, Nick Aspinwall wrote in The Washington Post, that barring same-sex couples from marrying violated the Taiwanese constitution.

Conservative opposition followed, and Taiwanese voters in a November 2018 public referendum chose not to extend full rights to same-sex couples. But the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) helped pass legislation that provides same-sex couples with child custody, tax and insurance benefits.

Taiwan becomes first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage

On Friday, couples basked in the glow of matrimony.

“Taiwan’s gay people have gone through a tough path,” Shane Lin, who married Marc Yuan, said during a post-wedding news conference, according to Inkstone News, which transcribed a video from ETtoday. “Today I can openly tell everyone, in front of so many people, that we are getting married and we are gay.”

The news resonated across the world.

Ellen DeGeneres, a television show host and one of the most prominent gay people in the United States, shared her reaction on Twitter.

To some, it was but a step. A 2017 map from foreignpolicy.comshows that same-sex unions legal across North America, and in many countries in South America and Europe, and almost none in Africa or Asia.

Thailand has proposed a law to recognize civil partnerships, but same-sex unions remain illegal elsewhere in Asia, Aspinwall wrote. And in Africa on Friday, Kenya’s high court upheld a law that makes same-sex relations a crime, Bloomberg News reported.

Chi Chia-wei, a gay rights activist in Taiwan for more than 30 years, told the New York Times, “Progress is good. More progress is even better.”

According to government data, 360 same-sex couples have tied the knot, May 24, the first day that same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan. (Reuters)

The mood in Taiwan on Friday, however, remained festive. Here are some photos from the ceremonies:

Shane Lin, left, and Marc Yuan kiss outside the Household Registration Office in Taipei on May 24. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

Taiwanese writer Chen Hsueh, right, and her partner, center, pose for a photo. (David Chang/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

A couple holding identity cards poses for photographs while registering for marriage at a Household Registration Office. (Ashley Pon/Bloomberg News)

A media throng surrounds those in line preparing to register. (David Chang/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Attendees pose for photographs during a pro-same-sex marriage party organized by the Taipei City government and Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan in Taipei on Friday. (Ashley Pon/Bloomberg News)

Married couples kiss while posing for photographs in front of the Taipei 101 building. (Ashley Pon/Bloomberg News)