ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's highest court has issued a ruling recognizing divorce for valid out-of-state same-sex marriages.

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The Court of Appeals issued the ruling Friday.

The ruling says Maryland courts should withhold recognition of a valid foreign marriage only if that marriage is "repugnant" to state public policy. The court says the threshold is a high bar that has not been met in the case that it ruled on.

The case involved two women who were married in California and denied a divorce in 2010 by a Maryland judge who said their marriage was not valid in the state.

Maryland does not currently allow same-sex weddings, but lawyers for the women told the seven-member Court of Appeals that is would be unprecedented for the state not to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere.