After fighting for three decades to legally marry his long-term partner, pioneering Taiwanese gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei said he was “leaping with joy like a bird” on Wednesday, when Taiwan’s top court cleared the way for the island to become the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.

“It’s been a long fight, and I’m in need of a good sleep,” Mr Chi, 59, told The Telegraph. “But I now believe it will be possible to change the law within two years. If the ruling party is aggressive then even by this summer.”

The constitutional court ruled that Taiwan’s current Civil Code, which stipulates an agreement to marry can only be made between a man and a woman, “violated” the constitution’s guarantees of freedom of marriage and people’s equality.