A primary argument against allowing openly gay persons to serve in the U.S. military is that it would undermine "unit cohesiveness."

A new study conducted by four retired military officers takes a contrary view.

"Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion," the officers said in a report sponsored by the Michael D. Palm Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The center’s Web site says Palm was "a staunch supporter of civil rights in the gay community."

The report urges Congress to repeal the "don’t ask, don’t tell" law passed in 1993. The law provides that gays and lesbians may serve in the military only if they keep their sexual orientation private. They are forbidden from engaging in homosexual activity.

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board long has contended that the law should be repealed because it unfairly discriminates against gays based merely on their sexual orientation, rather than how well they perform their duties.

More than 12,500 gays and lesbians have been discharged from the military based on "don’t ask, don’t tell," according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. A study by the federal Government Accountability Office showed it cost taxpayers nearly $200 million to recruit and train replacements from 1994 through 2003 for 9,488 persons discharged as a result of the law.

Of those discharged, more than 300 spoke foreign languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Korean and Mandarin Chinese. Skilled linguists have become especially valuable to the military during the global fight against terrorism since 9/11.

The military officers conducting the study stressed that gays have served openly in the British and Israeli militaries without diminishing the effectiveness of combat operations.

We’d like to make another point here: Gays shouldn’t be barred from the military just because some troops might be homophobic. It wasn’t right in an earlier era for the military or big-league baseball to discriminate against African-Americans just because some troops or ballplayers were racist.

Congress should repeal "don’t ask, don’t tell." The new policy regarding gay and lesbian members of the military simply should be "don’t discriminate."