(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., AP) — A man who married another man in Iowa is asking Missouri to grant the couple a divorce, even though the state does not recognize same-sex marriages.

An attorney for a man identified in court documents as M.S. argued before the state Supreme Court Wednesday that Missouri should allow divorces for same-sex couples legally married in other states.

M.S. and his partner D.S. married in Iowa in December 2012 and separated in August 2013.

A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge denied a divorce petition from M.S. in January, ruling that the marriage can’t be ended because same-sex marriages are banned in Missouri’s Constitution.

Attorney Drey Cooley, who represents M.S., argued that Missouri can dissolve same-sex marriages without also recognizing the marriage, as the state currently does with common-law marriages.