The U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy must be ended immediately. It is a discriminatory policy that costs talent for the military and money for taxpayers.

A new report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office shows us just how much we are losing.

The report indicates that 9,488 soldiers have been discharged since the policy went into effect in 1993 under President Clinton. The military has spent $200 million since then to recruit and train replacements, but the total cost is even higher because the figure excludes the National Guard, the Reserves and Coast Guard, as well as other costs incurred.

The long-standing and faulty premise behind the ban is that gays cannot serve effectively. Even if one were to accept that at face value, the military has discredited its own position. The GAO’s report indicates that 82 percent of the 9,488 discharged service people were given an honorable discharge. In other words, the soldiers did their duty and served honorably. Another 13 percent were given general separations under honorable conditions. This means that the vast majority of soldiers covered in this report were deemed by their biased superiors to have served with honor.

Although the military’s policy implies that gays cannot serve honorably, the military’s own practices show that gays can and do serve admirably. The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy contradicts the military’s stated reality, which explains why it has wasted so much taxpayer money and talent.

And what about that talent? Of the discharged soldiers, 757 held critical positions: linguists, intelligence experts, air traffic controllers and other specialized positions. Some of these positions — including linguists and intelligence experts — are in even higher demand in the so-called war on terror.

Retraining the replacements for the lost servicepeople has been costly to taxpayers. The Air Force estimated its cost at $7,400 per person. The Army put its cost at $6,400 per person, and the Navy spent an astounding $18,000 per person.

If the war on terror really is as important as President Bush contends, then it would make sense to cultivate as many linguists and intelligence experts as possible — in other words, to retain and the very people the military has chosen to discharge. In this light, it is doubly clear how far removed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is from reality.

By the military’s own record: Gays serve admirably, it is expensive to retrain replacements, and the military needs gays to serve — and yet the policy remains.

Such is the backwardness of discrimination. It is a learned, unnatural view that ignores reality.

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is a relic that has no meaning today. In the interest of equality and practicality, it must be ended immediately.

To do anything else would be dishonorable.