After early speculation that the Legislature’s special session to legalize same-sex marriage could be wrapped up in as few as five days, democracy is proving to be not so tidy — and that’s a good thing.

The Senate, where marriage equality has overwhelming support, kept its part of the train on schedule by confining the public hearing to one day on Monday, then passing the bill 20-4 on Wednesday.

Judiciary Chairman Clayton Hee took flak for limiting testimony after 1,800 people signed up, but the panel listened to 12 hours of speakers who pretty much covered the range of thought on an issue we’ve debated for 20 years.

Hee, who has himself been blamed for being the main cause of discord at some of his hearings, in this case seemed to recognize the import of the occasion and rose to it, keeping the emotional hearing on a relatively even keel.

The untidiness began when the matter moved to the House, where there are enough votes still in play — at least on the religious exemption — to make things interesting.

Adding to the drama are festering leadership fights on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle, with minority factions seeing this contentious issue as a great chance to make mischief and score points.

In a bit of a slap at the Senate, the House Judiciary and Finance committees waived sign-up deadlines for their joint Thursday hearing and promised to listen to all comers who signed up by midnight Thursday.

Opponents saw it as an opportunity to slow down the proceedings and more than 5,000 people signed up, turning the planned one-day hearing into a multiday affair.

The flood of testimony was at times repetitive, contradictory and of dubious factuality, but it’s good for legislators to have to look beyond the polling numbers for a change and see actual people and the tremendous emotional impact this momentous decision carries in the community for both sides.

It’s good for the public, too, to see their Legislature at work on a politically explosive issue in the magnified fishbowl of a special session, where all the focus is on this one thing and nothing can be hidden between the cracks.

The old saying is that the two things you don’t want to watch being made are sausages and laws, but old sayings aren’t always true.

If we want to live healthy, sometimes we need to know what’s being stuffed into the sausages weeat.

And if we’re to have a healthy democracy, sometimes we need to see how the lawmakers we elect actually go about making laws.

Some will like what they see and others won’t; either way, we can hope it’ll inspire greater futureattention and participation.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.