Two women tied the knot on Saturday in Taiwan's first same-sex Buddhist wedding, a move rights groups hope will help make the island become the first place in Asia to legalise gay marriage. Fish Huang and her partner You Ya-ting, both wearing traditional white bridal gowns, said "I do" in front of a Buddha statue and exchanged prayer beads rather than rings in a monastery in Taoyuan, in northern Taiwan. Nearly 300 Buddhists chanted sutras to seek blessings for the couple, both aged 30. Shih Chao-hui, a female Buddhist master who presided over the ritual, hailed it as a historic moment. "We are witnessing history. The two women are willing to stand out and fight for their fate... to overcome social discrimination," said Shih, a well-known advocate for social justice. "Some people might find it astounding (a woman performing the ceremony) but Buddhism does not engage in ideological struggles and I am used to strange looks from my own experience in the social movement," she said.