  I checked Lesser Feasts and Fasts - May 17th is open. And it seems to me that we could do no better thing than snap it up now before someone else takes it and make it a day to celebrate with grateful hearts the blessing of an Activist Judiciary.
We just finished observing - with much attendant hoopla and festivity - the tremendous gift America received from the activist judges who in 1954 dared to overrule majority prejudice in favor of minority rights with the Brown vs. Board of Education. It was not a “quick fix” by any means: the decades following were filled with racial strife as the struggle for equal rights continued in the courts and in the streets.
But it was undeniably a huge step forward: and one we look back on now with pride and gratitude and with some sense of amazement at the idea that the “wrongness” of the institutional, systemic bigotry that kept children from equal access to education had gone for so long unchallenged. And so it was with bewilderment that I watched CNN on May 17th -- listening to President Bush - speaking live from Topeka - saluting the 1954 decision while the “crawl” under the live footage read “Over 1000 gay marriage licenses issued in Massachusetts.
Bush reiterates call for constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage” - and soon we got to hear from our President another diatribe launched at “activist judges who dare to overrule majority opinion on this important issue.” Excuse me? Isn’t that PRECISELY WHAT WE’RE CELEBRATING IN TOPEKA? And I submit that it’s precisely what we’ll be celebrating 50 years from now when we observe the anniversary of the Massachusetts court decision that paved the way for making civil marriage available to same sex couples.
The next few years - decades - will probably be as messy as the ones following the historic 1954 decision but the outcome will be the same: and I propose we get ahead of the curve for a change as a church and get a Feast in the calendar. Let’s be ready so when we get to the point where we look back with pride and gratitude and some sense of amazement at the idea that the “wrongness” of the institutional, systemic bigotry that kept gay and lesbian families from equal protection under the Constitution had gone for so long unchallenged.
Let’s get some prayers and litanies, hymns and collects together and let us pray: Thanks be to God for the gift of the Activist Judiciary! ================== Susan Russell 
