An appeals court late Monday stayed a lower court's ruling ordering the release of video of last year's trial that resulted in declaring Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, unconstitutional, the AP reported.

Last Monday, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware said, “No compelling reasons exist for continued sealing of the digital recording of the trial.”

Ware stayed his own ruling until September 30 to allow for an expected appeal.

Protect Marriage, the coalition of mostly religious groups that sponsored Proposition 8, appealed the ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Proponents turned to Ware after U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, now retired, used a clip from the 2010 trial he presided over during a speech he gave in February in Arizona. They asked the court to stop Walker from showing the video again. Opponents volleyed back with a request to make the recordings available for broadcast.

At issue was whether release of the recording would put defense witnesses at risk of harassment from opponents of the constitutional amendment which overruled a 2008 California Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in the state.

David Thompson, a lawyer for Protect Marriage, told Ware that his concern was with the video “being made public.”

“We were entitled to rely on those unqualified assurances, and we did,” said Thompson during a hearing.

But Ware disagreed, saying the court's order didn't amount to a requirement to seal the tapes.

“The Court finds that the record does not support the contention that Judge Walker limited the digital recording to chambers use only,” Ware wrote. “Judge Walker, without objection, made copies of the digital recording available to the parties for use during closing arguments.”