The university professors, who are both British, were married in Canada in 2003 and their union is valid in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

Now Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson want their marriage to have full legal status in Britain, where they live and work.

They describe civil partnerships, which were introduced last year, as an “insulting and discriminatory” alternative.

If the test case is successful, it could pave the way for gay couples to have a wedding ceremony abroad and their marriage legalised on return to Britain.

Karon Monaghan, representing the women, who live in North Yorkshire, said that the laws that prevent recognition of homosexual marriages were crumbling. She told Sir Mark Potter, president of the High Court Family Division, that laws prohibiting marriage between different races, social classes or religions had long been repealed.

Ms Monaghan said: “But for the fact that the marriage was between partners of the same sex, it would be recognised as valid in England and Wales.”

She said that laws banning inter-racial marriage would be “repugnant”, adding: “There is no real difference between such laws of exclusion. Having regard to the Human Rights Act, such laws cannot survive.

“Their marriage displays the characteristics as any other marriage — love, warmth, affection and interdependence.”

The couple, who have been together for 16 years, are seeking a declaration under the Family Law Act that their marriage is valid.

In a statement to the court, Professor Wilkinson, 52, said: “It is important to both of us that we are recognised as partners in life by the world at large.” The professor of psychology at Loughborough University was living and working in Vancouver when she married Professor Kitzinger, 49, who holds a position in sociology at the University of York. They exchanged rings and were declared “wife and wife” at the civil marriage ceremony.

The Civil Partnership Act, introduced last December, gives many of the legal rights of marriage to gay partners. But it states that homosexuals who marry in countries where same-sex marriage is legal should be treated in Britain as having a civil partnership.

Ms Monaghan said that her clients did not want their marriage to be “automatically downgraded” and were asking to be treated like any other married couple. She said the refusal to recognise their marriage violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, which enshrine the rights to private and family life, to marry and not to be discriminated against.

Their petition is opposed by the Attorney-General and the Lord Chancellor.

Helen Mountfield, for the Lord Chancellor, described the application as “misconceived” and said that it should be dismissed because legal marriage in British law was between a man and a woman.

She said that the new legislation imposed no practical or financial disadvantage.

The case is being supported by Liberty, the human rights group, and Outrage!, the gay rights organisation, which described the law as “sexual apartheid and institutional homophobia”. The hearing continues and the judge is expected to give his decision next month.

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