(Washington) An organization that represents gays in the military said Tuesday that the Army’s continued use of stop loss is further evidence that the discharge of over 12,500 service members based on sexual orientation since 1993 under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” undermines military readiness.

The use of known as stop loss, or involuntary combat duty extensions, reportedly is expected to continue through 2009. The number of soldiers affected by stop loss will remain at about 12,000 next year, Army Lt. Col. Mike Moose told USA Today.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say the policy is needed to maintain the cohesion of units heading to battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The continued use of stop loss illustrates how the discharge of over 12,500 qualified service members under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has greatly strained military readiness at a time when our armed forces are already stretched far too thin around the globe,” said Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis. ” ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ undermines the military’s ability to attract qualified personnel of all backgrounds in order to keep pace with increasing deployment needs.”

The number of soldiers impacted by stop loss each month is approximately the same as the number of service members who have been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – over 12,500.

The number of service members discharged under DADT also roughly equals the number of service members that commanders in Afghanistan are seeking to add to the 32,000 troops already on the ground.

Under DADT, two people every day are dropped from the military for being gay.

In the 15 years that DADT has been in force, more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of the policy, including 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.

The number of gay men and lesbians turned away by military recruiters is unknown.

A study conducted last year for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the U.S. military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits, if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation.

Legislation to repeal DADT is currently before Congress. Republican Presidential nominee John McCain supports the ban.  Democrat Barack Obama said last month that if elected president he would not try to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on his own.

Obama said that he wants to work with military leaders to build a consensus on removing the ban on openly gay service members in the armed forces. He said that wouldn’t be accomplished by attaching a signing statement to a military spending bill, a process that President Bush has used to set other military policies.