Not to flog a dead horse, or rather a horse that is still galloping along but ought to be dead, we suggest that last week's prize for waste of the public's time should go to the state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse on Thursday.

The hearing was on Senate Bill 1250, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage or "the functional equivalent of marriage" for gays, in other words, civil unions. Gay marriage in Pennsylvania has been outlawed for a dozen years but that explains only a part of the folly.

There's also this: The Judiciary Committee voted 10-4 on March 18 to advance the bill. As Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, an opponent of the amendment, said in a statement: "Holding a hearing after you've already rushed a bill out of committee is something out of 'Alice in Wonderland' -- vote first, hearing afterward."

But, of course, the proposed amendment is symbolic, which explains the overflow crowd for the meeting. In our view, it is the symbol of a bigoted determination to mind other people's business when there's much more important public business to be attended to.