Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) Beaming in the bright sunshine, Amber Wang took the hand of her new wife, Kristin Huang, on the steps of the Xinyi District office in Taipei, Friday, making history as one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Asia.

As of 10am, 166 same-sex couples had already registered their marriages across Taiwan, according to the island's Interior Ministry.

But just kilometers away, in the city's outer suburbs, emboldened opponents of marriage equality announced to the press that they would create a new political party to fight for a ban on same-sex marriage at the 2020 election.

Taiwan is an island bitterly divided over a moment which should have made it a shining light for LGBTQ rights in an increasingly repressive region.

Amber Wang and Kristin Huang at a party held in Taipei to celebrate the first same-sex weddings in Asia on Friday.

Across the island of 24 million people, the first gay and lesbian couples in Asia legally tied the knot, to tears and applause from their friends and family.

After months of stalling and acrimony, the laws finally passed on May 18, just one week before the deadline.

Still, there's no indication that the majority of Taiwan's population is happy to see Wang and Huang and others like them married. A referendum during the 2018 Taiwan local elections asking voters if they supported same-sex marriage failed by a large margin.

In total, 69% of voters said they wanted the marriage code restricted to between a man and a woman.

"Friday will be the darkest day in Taiwan's judiciary history," same-sex marriage opponent Stability of Power Alliance chiarman Sun Chi-Cheng said the day before the historic event.

Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Amber Wang, left, and Kristin Huang, right, kiss during their wedding just days after Taiwan passed historical same-sex marriage law, making it the first nation in Asia. Hide Caption 1 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Amber Wang and Kristin Huang hold hands on their way to register their marital status and receive new identification cards on Friday, May 24, in Taipei, Taiwan. Hide Caption 2 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Amber Wang, left, and Kristin Huang, right, get ready before they head out to register their marital status and receive new identification cards in Taipei on Friday. Hide Caption 3 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Kristin Huang, left, and Amber Wang, right, share a car ride in Taipei on Friday. Hide Caption 4 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Kristen Huang and Amber Wang prepare the documents and photos needed to register on Friday. Hide Caption 5 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Xue Chen, left, and Antonia Chen, right, kiss after registering their marital status on Friday. Hide Caption 6 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages The young couple waits in the elevator. Hide Caption 7 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei shows up at the same-sex wedding party on Friday in Taipei. Hide Caption 8 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Newly married couple Marc Yuan, right, and Shane Lin, left, celebrate after receiving new identification cards on Friday. Hide Caption 9 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages A same-sex couple brings a wooden stamp to their marriage registration. The Chinese characters symbolize the common word for wedding. Hide Caption 10 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Just days after Taiwan's legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time in Asia, couples made their marriages official. Hide Caption 11 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages A lebsian couple awaits registering their marriage in Taipei. Hide Caption 12 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages LGBT activists put up an archway for gay couples to walk a rainbow flag carpet to a stage near the Taipei 101 skyscraper. Hide Caption 13 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Just married: Kristen Huang, left, and Amber Wang, right, hold their new identification cards on Friday. Hide Caption 14 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Couples register their marital status and receive new identification cards. Hide Caption 15 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Kristen Huang, left, and her partner Amber Wang, right, hold their marriage certificates. Hide Caption 16 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Couples hold hands in Taipei nearly a week after Taiwan's legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Hide Caption 17 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Gay couple Marc Yuan, left, and Shane Lin, right, come to registration office on Friday to update their marital status and receive new identification cards. Hide Caption 18 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Amber Wang, right, and Kristin Huang, left, laugh after their marriage as Taiwan passes historical same-sex marriage law, making it the first nation in Asia. Hide Caption 19 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan (the Coalition) poses for a photo with the Department of Civil Affairs, Taipei City Government to throw a same-sex wedding party on Friday in Taipei. Hide Caption 20 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Marc Yuan, left, and Shane Lin, right, at the household registration office in Shinyi district in Taipei on Friday. Hide Caption 21 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Kristin Huang, left, and Amber Wang, right, talk about their relationship during a press interview. Hide Caption 22 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei, right, witnessed gay couple Marc Yuan, left, and Shane Lin, center, register their marital status and receive new identification cards.

Hide Caption 23 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Photographers take pictures of newly married same-sex couples in the Household Registration Office in Shinyi District in Taipei on Friday. Hide Caption 24 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages A same-sex couple waits to register their marriage. Hide Caption 25 of 26 Photos: In pictures: Asia's first same-sex marriages Kristin Wang, left, and Amber Wang, right, gesture on a rainbow blanket in Taipei. Hide Caption 26 of 26

Joy in Taiwan

It is the day for which LGBT rights activist Chi Chia-Wei has been waiting for more than four decades.

One of the first people in Taiwan to publicly come out as gay, Chi has been campaigning for marriage equality since the 1980s, and was one of the plaintiffs who brought the case in the Constitutional Court which led to its legalization.

"I have been preparing for this day to come, although it took a long while to happen ... But I knew it would eventually come," he said.

Marc and Shane register their marital status and receive new identification cards on May 24 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Chi was present at the wedding of Wang and Huang on Friday, dressed in a bright red suit with plush rainbow bears attached.

He signed the first Xinyi same-sex couples' marriage registration as a witness, with the same pen Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen used to sign the marriage equality bill just one week ago.

Tsai gifted it to Chi with a handwritten note."May love unite everyone on this land," the president wrote.

Friday was technically Wang's third "wedding" to her wife, Huang. They were both married, unofficially, in January 2018, less than a year after the court decision and again in May shortly after the bill passed.

But they only officially became wife and wife on Friday.

LGBT rights activist Chi Chia-Wei in Taiwan on Thursday, the day before same-sex marriage becomes legal on the island

"I'm so proud that Taiwan is on the right side of the history and the first in Asia to have done so ... Taiwan has set an example in making progress in safeguarding human rights," Huang said.

The two, who have been dating for about three years, co-host a YouTube channel called BBDiary. It's named after their nicknames for each other -- BB, a synonym for baby. The video of their first "wedding" in 2018 has since been watched more than 420,000 times on their channel.

Huang said she first realized the need for equal rights for same-sex relationships when Wang had a medical emergency and she found herself treated by hospital staff not as a loved one, but as a "roommate."

They were standing in the rain last week with thousands of others when the final bills legalizing marriage equality passed, a moment which they both said was "unbelievable."

Huang understands opponents of same-sex marriage. Her own father used to object to her being in a same-sex relationship.

"(After they) got to know my partner better, they came to the realization that gay people aren't what they thought they were," she said.

But not everyone has changed their minds.

Kristin Huang and Amber Wang

'Darkest day'

At Xizhi district in suburban Taipei, Sun announced the formation of the Stability of Power party which aims to end marriage equality at the very moment same-sex couples were tying the knot across the island.

Speaking at the Taiwan legislature Thursday, he said the government's decision to pass same-sex marriage was a "betrayal" of voters, who made their opinion clear in last year's referendum.

"Through President Tsai's manipulation, the people of Taiwan are not only betrayed, but also toyed with while their rights are being abused. In her eyes, people's opinion are nothing but trash," he said.

It's clear the move to endorse same-sex marriage is divisive, to say the least. Three questions on same-sex marriage were asked in the 2018 Taiwan referendum. In all cases voters rejected same-sex marriage but weren't opposed to Taiwan's LGBTQ couples having rights other than marriage.

Sun Chi-Cheng, chairman of the Stability of Power Alliance, announced a new political party in Taiwan Friday opposing same-sex marriage

But given the Constitutional Court's decision, legislators couldn't leave the law as it was, which led to extensive negotiations and concessions.

The final version doesn't mention "same-sex marriage" specifically, instead saying couples of the same gender are allowed "marriage registration." It doesn't allow LGBTQ couples full adoption rights either.

But Sun said that isn't enough and he wants the marriages outlawed. His group will put up candidates at the 2020 election to run on the issue. "Let's elect a new president and new legislators next year. And we will overturn the bills," he said.

One of Sun's volunteers, Becky Huang, said gay people in Taiwan don't actually want to get married, blaming legislators for stoking the issue for personal gain. "I have a gay nephew. He doesn't want to get married," she said.

'Faith, hope and love'

If Taiwan does backtrack on same-sex rights, it would be a decision in keeping with an increasingly conservative region.

In recent years, LGBTQ rights across Asia have seen repeated backtracks and growing obstacles as local governments become more reluctant to embrace their gay populations.

Activists had hoped the Taiwan decision would create a surge of support for same-sex marriage across Asia, but so far, only China has reacted to the announcement, apparently attempting to take credit for the advance in a tweet with a gif saying "love is love."

Just days after Taiwan's legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time in Asia, couples register their marital status and receive new identification cards, Friday.

Homosexuality is not illegal on the mainland, but same-sex marriage is not permitted and activists there don't see the situation changing any time soon

Taiwan's gay men and women may now be able to marry but say the battle for their rights isn't over. "We all know that, even though the bills have been passed, this won't be the end of the fight," newly-wed Huang said.

Chi said he was optimistic about the future of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, despite Sun's attempts to rally opposition to the new laws. He believes that people will grow used to the change once they see that same-sex couples are just like everyone else.

To his fellow same-sex marriage advocates across Asia, Chi has a simple message: "Faith, hope and love. Keep your faith, hold onto your hope and continue to love."

The graphic in this story has been updated to correct the legal status of same-sex marriage in Jamaica.