Stars! They're just as like us as they were 100 years ago! (Photo: Associated Press)

NINE MILLION PEOPLE in the United States are estimated to identify as gay or bisexual, "a number equivalent to the population of New Jersey." The gay and bi population of the country is pegged at 3.5 percent, "but those who said they have had same-sex encounters are almost evenly divided between gay people and bisexuals, leaving just 1.7 percent who say they are gay. The percentage more than doubles, however, if it includes people who say they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior at some point."

AFTER THE JUMP: MILF milestone; olde-tyme celeb gossip; baseball not nearly gay enough in Maryland:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: How to "compromise" over equal rights for LGBTs; "Miss Gay America" pageant bars trans people, lesbians; trans activists testify for (and against) anti-discrimination bill in Md.

BOB MCDONNELL opposes requiring faith-based groups to include gay couples in their adoption programs.

DAVID CATANIA proposes screening District youth for "behavioral health" issues, and studying mental health among youth, focusing on age, ward, school, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

CENTURY-OLD CELEBRITY GOSSIP RAGS! THEY'RE JUST LIKE MODERN-DAY GOSSIP RAGES: "many of the conventions of contemporary celebrity journalism—as showcased in magazines like People, Us Weekly, In Touch, and Life & Style—have centurylong pedigrees," Slate's Libby Copeland reports. "Articles suggesting that celebrities are ordinary folks who perform ordinary chores, only with better clothes? Check. The obsession over stars' babies? Check. Public dissections of who had lost the perfect amount of weight, who had lost too much weight, and who had gotten her body back after pregnancy? Check, check, and check."

MILESTONES: The first "MILF" porn performer to reach 100,000 Twitter followers.

MARYLAND BASEBALL NOT GAY ENOUGH: "The general apathy that afflicts Maryland’s LGBT residents creates problems large and small," writes the Washington Blade's Kevin Naff on the state's failure to extend marriage rights to gay couples. "In D.C., for example, the Washington Nationals baseball team has hosted an appreciation night for gay fans for several years. A gay person throws out the first pitch, the Gay Men’s Chorus sings the National Anthem, LGBT fans are recognized on the JumboTron and the event draws between 2,000 and 3,000 fans to the ballpark. The Baltimore Orioles have never hosted a similar event. And remember that Baltimore is a larger city by population and geography than D.C. and its baseball team has been around a lot longer than the Nats."

IN SEX OFFENDER NEWS: An IP address investigation of a child pornography website lead back to 35-year-old Justin Coleman of Falls Church, a fourth grade teacher at Alexandria's John Adams Elementary; Virginia schools have implemented a new security program that "scans parents' and visitors' identification cards and checks them against a national database of registered sex offenders."