WWW . TheSKaNNeR . COm
J aNuaRy 25, 2012
S eaTTle , W aShiNGTON
V Olume XXXiV, N O . 4
25
CeNTS
i nSiDe
‘Red Tails’
page 2
GOP & Race
page 4
Week on the web
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
page 6
Gay
marriage
Vote
99
Gregoire pushes issue
to forefront amidst
growing uproar
And
by rachel la Corte and mike baker
the associated Press
99
PHOtO by SuSan FrieD
Kathleen Brodine joined several
hundred people at a rally on Jan. 21,
to protest the Supreme Court decision
in 2010 to equate money with free
speech. Similar events were held in
cities through out the country. The
decision has sparked a movement to
amend the constitution “to firmly
establish that money is not speech,
and that human beings, not
corporations, are persons entitled to
constitutional rights.”
Girl’s Story Picked up for TV Show
Toppenish girl ‘faked pregnancy’ for research on teen stereotypes
by Shannon Dininny
the associated Press
yaKima, Wash. (AP) —
Nine months after revealing to
classmates that she had faked
her pregnancy for a senior class
project, a Washington state
teenager is promoting a new
book that details the experience
and explores her reasons for tak-
ing on the project.
Gaby Rodriguez of Toppen-
ish, Wash. earned international
headlines last April when she
announced at a high school
assembly that she had worn a
faux baby bump for months to
explore stereotypes about teen
pregnancy.
Only a handful of people,
including her mother, boyfriend
and principal, were in on the
secret. The rest of the Toppenish
community, where buildings are
adorned with Western-themed
murals in central Washington’s
agricultural Yakima Valley, had
no clue.
The local newspaper, the
Yakima Herald-Republic, pub-
lished a story that was then
inDeX
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picked up nationally by The
Associated Press, and the proj-
ect drew both praise and criti-
cism. Some people credited her
for selflessly committing to her
idea and addressing such a seri-
ous topic, while others lashed
out at her for lying for a school
project.
Some critics still don’t under-
stand what led her to take on the
project in the first place,
Rodriguez said in a recent inter-
view, and she hopes that they’ll
get that from her book, ``The
Pregnancy Project.’’
The book was written with a
ghostwriter. A movie about the
experience, starring ``Spykids’’
actress Alexa Vega, premieres
Jan. 28 on the Lifetime movie
network, and Rodriguez is mak-
ing numerous television and
radio appearances to promote
her story.
The book details her mother’s
first pregnancy, at age 14, and
marriage to the baby’s father —
a 16-year union troubled by
allegations of abuse that pro-
duced seven children. Their
See teen on page 3
OlymPia, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s
Legislature has enough votes to legalize gay
marriage with a statement from Democratic
Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen Monday who
said she will support the measure, becoming
the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of
the Senate. The House already has enough
support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has
endorsed the plan.
Washington would become the seventh
state to legalize same-sex marriages, fol-
lowing New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Mas-
sachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Washington state has had a domestic part-
nership law since 2007, and an “everything
but marriage” law since 2009.
Haugen’s announcement came has hun-
dreds of people filled the capitol to advocate
for and against gay marriage. State senators
began considering the bill during a morning
committee hearing.
“I know this announcement makes me the
so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures
passage,” Haugen said in a statement.
She said she took her time making up her
mind to “to reconcile my religious beliefs
with my beliefs as an American, as a legis-
lator, and as a wife and mother who cannot
deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy.
This is the right vote and it is the vote I will
cast when this measure comes to the floor.”
Opponents and supporters of gay marriage
packed a Senate committee hearing Monday
for the first public hearing of the most high-
profile issue before the Washington state
Legislature this session.
Dozens of people crammed into a small
Senate committee hearing room, which was
quickly filled to capacity as people lined up
outside the room two hours in advance of
the 10 a.m. start. The Senate set up three
overflow areas for the public, including the
public gallery on the Senate floor.
Opponents of gay marriage wore buttons
See marriage on page 3
library Facing Cuts, asks for input
Citywide community meeting set for public’s ideas on programs
T
he Seattle Public Library will hold is
last citywide community meeting to
discuss improving Library services
from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at
the Northeast Branch, 6801 35th Ave. N.E.
(206-684-7539).
The meeting will focus on patron needs in
the following key service areas:
• operating hours
• building maintenance.
Strategies for stabilizing Library funding
also will be reviewed. “Our libraries pro-
vide essential educational resources for the
residents of Seattle,” said Marcellus Turner,
city librarian. “Every day we change lives –
from building literacy skills at story times to
providing in-depth resources and work-
shops for job seekers.”
At the meeting, patrons will receive an
overview of Library use and budget, as well
as suggested options for providing better
and more accessible resources and services.
Patrons will have the opportunity to voice
their priorities around collections, hours,
technology and building maintenance.
The improvement areas grew out of a pub-
lic outreach process to develop the Library’s
new Strategic Plan, where more than 33,000
See library on page 3