PROVIDENCE -- For the first time, a same-sex couple is seeking a divorce in Rhode Island, the judge and lawyers involved in the case said yesterday.

The Providence couple Margaret R. Chambers and Cassandra B. Ormiston got married in Fall River in 2004, shortly after Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Now, Chambers and Ormiston are filing claims and counterclaims in Rhode Island Family Court, each citing "irreconcilable differences."

"We have the same right to fail as anyone else," Ormistons lawyer, Nancy Palmisciano, said, quoting her client.

Karen L. Loewy, staff attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, a Boston-based group active throughout New England, said more than 8,000 same-sex couples have married in Massachusetts, and a "small number" of those have divorced. But she believes this is the first time a couple that married in Massachusetts has tried to get divorced in another state.

Chambers' lawyer, Louis M. Pulner, described the case as "hallmark litigation for the gay and lesbian community."

Chief Family Court Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr., who is handling the case, declined to comment, other than to confirm this is the first time a same-sex couple has sought a divorce in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island law doesn't explicitly prohibit or allow same-sex marriages, and Jeremiah has not yet decided whether the court has jurisdiction to grant a divorce to a same-sex couple, lawyers said.

But Palmisciano emphasized that the legal question is not whether Rhode Island will grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Rather, she said, the issue is whether to dissolve a marriage that was legally entered into in another state, which does allow same-sex marriages.

"I think it is significant if for no other reason that there is a tremendous flurry of activity among states about who will recognize what," Palmisciano said. "This drives home that we are not a stationary society any more; what happens in one state can affect another state. And we can't force people to stay married if they don't want to remain married to each other."

Pulner said, "If you consider that one of every two marriages ends in divorce among heterosexuals, it's certainly not unexpected to see unions or marriages in the gay and lesbian community come to an end."

But same-sex divorces present additional legal complexities.

Pulner raised this possibility: What if a Family Court judge grants a divorce to Chambers and Ormiston, but three years later another judge decides that the court lacks jurisdiction to grant a divorce to another same-sex couple? If on appeal, the state Supreme Court supports the latter judge, Chambers might be left with a void divorce decree, he said.

Pulner said Chambers did not want to speak with The Journal about the case, and Ormiston could not be reached immediately.

In 2004, The Journal ran a brief announcement, saying the couple had been married by a justice of the peace at Fall River's Government Center on May 26, 2004. "Chambers and Ormiston are both retired," the announcement said. "They vacationed in Ogunquit, Maine, and live in Providence."

According to court records, Chambers, 70, had been married twice before, and Ormiston, 59, had never been married before. They had no children.

Chambers filed for divorce last month, asking the court to award her the title to "the marital domicile" on Prospect Street and to real estate in Durango, Colo., court records show. In a counterclaim, Ormiston said she has been a "faithful wife and performed all the obligations of the marriage covenant," and she asked the court to award her the exclusive use of a vehicle she used during the marriage, records show.

Pulner said Chambers and Ormiston married during the narrow time frame between the start of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts and a cease-and-desist order, which told Massachusetts town clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples.

Loewy said it's hard to say how many married same-sex couples are in Rhode Island: Some may have married while living in Massachusetts and moved to Rhode Island. Some may have married in Canada. And some may have exchanged vows in the last few months, after a Massachusetts state judge ruled that same-sex couples from Rhode Island have the right to marry in Massachusetts.

Loewy said Rhode Island recognizes marriages validly entered in other jurisdictions, unless there's a strong public policy reason not to, and she said there's no such reason in this case. She said it's the common practice of comity, in which one state recognizes the laws of another.

Also, Loewy said the state has recognized out-of-state marriages even when such a marriage would not have been allowed in Rhode Island. She cited a 1904 state Supreme Court case involving a man who was under guardianship when he married out of state.

Jenn Steinfeld, co-chair of Marriage Equality RI, a group that seeks legal recognition of same-sex couples through civil marriage in Rhode Island, said the divorce case is "clearly a tragedy" for Chambers and Ormiston. "My heart goes out to them," she said.

But, Steinfeld said, "One of the protections that come with marriage is access to divorce courts. So although it's clearly a shame for their family, they are lucky to have the protection of the courts."