A federal judge's decision to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage in California is reverberating all the way to Maine, where voters overturned a gay marriage law last November. Same-sex marriage supporters in Maine are praising Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling that the Prop 8 ban in California violated civil rights protections. But Catholic leaders in Maine who helped lead the successful repeal effort last fall say the court decision is an insult to millions of Californians who voted to keep marriage between a man and a woman.

"We are certainly disappointed but not surprised," says Mark Mutty, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which formed a coalition with evangelical leaders in the repeal effort in Maine. He says that the California ruling is not the final word on same-sex marriage.

"From a legal perspective, I'm not so sure that this ruling has a whole lot of value since it certainly will be taken up by the 9th Circuit Court, and regardless of outcome will end up in the Supreme Court," Mutty says.

Supporters of same-sex marriage agree that the California ruling does not have a direct legal impact in Maine. But Betsy Smith, director of Equality Maine, which campaigned to uphold the Maine law, says that the ruling is still important. "It validates what we have known for a very long time, that denying the basic legal protections of marriage to same-sex couples is unfair, unjust and unconstitutional."

Smith says the focus right now in Maine is on education. "We need to continue to have one-on-one conversations with Mainers -- with our neighbors and our co-workers -- about why all families need the protections of marriage, so whether we go forward with a lawsuit or a legislative bill, we need to do the work of educating Mainers, and that's what we're doing."

Aside from the ruling's legal implications, there are also questions about whether developments in California will have a political impact in Maine. University of Maine Political Science Professor Mark Brewer doubts that it will have much of an effect on Maine elections this fall.

"Same sex marriage is certainly an issue that a certain percentage of the Maine electorate takes very seriously on both sides, and I think people who are going to vote on the basis of that issue have already made up their minds," Brewer says.

But Brian Duff, a political scientist at the University of New England, says that conservative Republicans like gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage could use the California ruling to fire up the base.

"Gay marriage is something that, there's been a lot more anxiety about it on the conservative side," Duff says. "So it's in a sense -- it's something where he can talk about that Mainers have spoken on this issue and that they're going to need a governor who is willing to back up their perspective."

LePage has voiced his personal opposition to same-sex marriage. But he and two independent gubernatorial candidates Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott, say they would support the will of the people in any referendum vote.

Democrat Libby Mitchell and a third Independent candidate, Eliot Cutler, both say they support same-sex marriage.