I am a working gay professional, and I could not be more disappointed with the Democrats this year.

The 2008 Democratic National Convention saw the largest delegation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender delegates in party history with 339 delegates... not even mentioning countless members of the gay media and non-delegate LGBT observers.

Yet, aside from very casual, very shallow mentions of gay constituents byTed Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, we heard nothing about gay rights issues this year. We heard nothing about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), we heard nothing about partner benefits, civil unions, gay marriage or protections for same-sex parents.

Even openly-lesbian U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin; The historic first open lesbian U.S. congresswoman) made no mention of gay rights or even of her own sexuality.

Seems to me that Democrats want the gay vote, but don't want to have anything to do with important gay issues out of fear of scaring away independents, moderates and disenchanted Republicans.

If the GOP was smart, they would step away from the increasingly irrelevant religious right and recognize something: party politics aside, this country is quickly liberalizing with regard to sexual preference.

Young people are becoming more courageous, willing to openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender without fear of social repercussions.

Even people, even Republicans, that have a personal problem with the gay lifestyle in and of itself are becoming more and more accepting of individual choices. People-even those that are against gay marriage-are quickly becoming more open to rights and benefits for same-sex couples.

The average American would be surprised how many LGBT Americans boast high incomes, are generally conservative socially, are pro-life, and supportive of a small government. If Republicans would just soften their social stance a tiny amount, move away from the religious nut jobs that are growing more and more hated by the country at large, they might just be able to get a few more alternative lifestyle voters on board with the party platform.

Pipe dream? Maybe. Possible? Definitely.