KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Couples challenging Missouri’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states say there is no public interest in denying them the same rights as married heterosexuals.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Anthony Rothert told a Jackson County judge on Thursday that refusal to honor same-sex marriages amounts to state-sanctioned discrimination.

Assistant Attorney General Jeremiah Morgan said Missouri voters approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage by a large margin in 2004, and that the U.S. Supreme Court has said states have the right to define marriage.

Ten couples who were legally married elsewhere are suing top state officials and the city of Kansas City for violating their due process and equal protection rights.

Circuit Judge James Dale Young didn’t say when he would have a ruling.

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KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City judge is preparing to hear arguments in a Jackson County lawsuit challenging Missouri’s rejection of same-sex marriages that have been performed in other states.

Ten same-sex couples who were married in other states are suing Kansas City and state officials, including Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster, for violating their due process and equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs say Missouri recognizes different-sex marriages performed elsewhere and that under a 2013 Supreme Court ruling it is obligated to treat same-sex marriages the same way. They are seeking a permanent injunction requiring the state to recognize all same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The lawsuit is one of at least three legal challenges to Missouri’s ban on same-sex marriages.