PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — A lesbian couple married in Massachusetts has filed for divorce in Rhode Island, setting up a legal conundrum for judges in a state where the laws are silent on the legality of same-sex marriage.Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston of Providence were married after the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2003, making it the only US state allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Chambers’ attorney, Louis Pulner, said yesterday the couple had irreconcilable differences, and filed for divorce October 23 in Rhode Island family court.

The filing is believed to be the first for a same-sex divorce in Rhode Island, Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah Jeremiah Jr. said. He has not yet decided whether the court has jurisdiction. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for December 5.

It was unclear until recently whether couples from out of state could marry in Massachusetts. In September, a Massachusetts judge decided that nothing in Rhode Island law specifically bans gay marriage and said couples from Rhode Island could legally marry there.

However, Rhode Island has not taken any action to recognise same-sex unions made in Massachusetts. State Attorney General Patrick Lynch has said it is a matter for the courts and legislature to decide.

Most other US states have laws specifically defining marriage as between a man and a woman and marriages in Massachusetts are not recognised in those states.

“Now the ultimate question is whether the state (of Rhode Island) will recognise or determine whether it has jurisdiction to handle an out-of-state divorce when we don’t have any case law that accepts or rejects same-sex marriage,” Pulner said.

The first same-sex weddings in Massachusetts took place in May 2004. Two states — Vermont and Connecticut — have legalised civil unions that give same-sex couples benefits and responsibilities similar to marriage.