‘Lesbian spring break’: Dinah Shore festival shines in a dark time for women

By Farrah Tomazin

Palm Springs: It’s a scorching afternoon in southern California and thousands of people have descended on a 65,000 square metre resort in Palm Springs for the biggest queer women’s gathering in the world.

As the temperature pushes past 40 degrees, a female DJ revs up the crowd while a group of bikini-clad women dance and twerk by the edge of a pool packed with enthusiastic revellers.

Around the corner, on a manicured lawn lined with palm trees, others brave the desert heat to take part in a dodgeball contest, ducking and diving as six rubber balls are flung from one team to the other.

And over on the pool deck, couples, singles and groups of friends sit on towels and under umbrellas, happily immersed in an annual event that has become a rite of passage for so many women across the globe over the past 31 years: the Dinah Shore festival.

Dinah Shore founder and producer Mariah Hanson (left) with US singer Fletcher (centre) and Hanson’s partner Maureen Vanderpool at the event this month.Credit:Getty

“It started as an opportunity to put on an amazing party in a safe space, to show people what living out ‘loud and proud’ looks like. Now it’s all that and more,” founder and event producer Mariah Hanson tells me.

“We’ve had people over the years who have had terminal news from their doctor and Dinah’s on their bucket list. When we were in the Iraq war, members of the military would come here on their furlough. We’ve had people who have ‘come out’ but their parents have disowned them, and they’re looking for a community. This is where they find it, and for some people it’s been life changing.”

Affectionately referred to as “lesbian spring break”, Dinah Shore attracts about 15,000 people every year, drawn by its “no judgment” ethos and its legacy of inclusion and empowerment. It has also showcased some of the biggest stars and emerging artists in the US: from Lady Gaga and Lizzo to Chaka Khan and this year’s headliner, gay icon and singer-songwriter Fletcher.

Dinah attendees Christine and Dannee from Las Vegas (both left) with friends.Credit:Farrah Tomazin

But beyond the celebrities, DJ battles, fun and frivolity, Hanson, 60, also views “the Dinah” as a platform for women’s rights and the LGBTQ movement more broadly.

And this year’s event – taking place against the backdrop of abortion access being eroded in the US, global attacks against the transgender community, and civil unrest in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old woman by the nation’s “morality police” – was also a potent reminder that the equality and diversity Dinah Shore strives for cannot be taken for granted.

“What we’re looking at in the world today is absolute onslaught towards women,” says Hanson.

“Roe v Wade (the landmark abortion ruling that was overturned by the Supreme Court in June) is one example, but it’s just a symptom of a much wider problem.

“We’re facing a crisis in this country, which means that, as a community, we have to raise our voices again, and stand up and be counted.”

The seeds of Dinah Shore were sown in 1990, when Hanson decided to throw the first one-night Dinah party at the Palm Springs Art Museum, attracting about 1000 people. It was intended to create an inclusive space for many of the lesbians attending the nearby Dinah Shore Nabisco Classic, a women’s golf tournament founded in the 1970s by singer-songwriter Dinah Shore, the late wife of Hollywood actor Burt Reynolds.

Three decades later, the now five-day festival is universally recognised as the largest annual queer women’s gathering in the world, thanks in part to the groundbreaking series The L Word, the first mainstream show centred on a group of lesbian characters. Its first season in 2003 featured an episode showcasing Dinah Shore weekend, which for many women around the world was the first time they realised there was a major event just for them.

Meag Williams (right) and partner Jay Allison from LA.Credit:Farrah Tomazin

“I remember seeing it as a teenager and when we finally moved to Los Angeles I was like: we have to go to Dinah and see it for ourselves,” says Meag Williams, who attended this year with her partner, Jay Allison.

“It’s just good to be around other queer women and part of a community,” Allison says.

The importance of having a single place for gay women is particularly acute given how few lesbian venues remain in America, with one recent study suggesting only about 20 are left, partly due to skyrocketing rents, the impact of COVID, and more women turning to dating apps.

To that end, an annual retreat like Dinah Shore is an attractive option. As 48-year-old Tay Samson, a self-described “Dinah Virgin”, tells me while sitting with her wife of 18 years: “It’s so important to have a safe space like this where people can be themselves – particularly for the younger generation.”

While Dinah runs from Wednesday to Sunday night, the weekend is where the crowd festivities really kick into gear. Last Friday, celebrity guests strutted the red carpet ahead of a black and white ball headlined by ’90s pop star Taylor Dayne and Canadian rapper Haviah Mighty.

On Saturday, the infamous L Word Pool Party took place – named after the series that first cast the spotlight on Dinah Shore – followed by a Hollywood-themed dance party in the grand ballroom of the host hotel, the Margaritaville Resort, which used to draw in the likes of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe in its former life as The Riviera.

Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider speaks with members of the press at the White House to participate in Transgender Day of Visibility.Credit:AP

Among the guests was Jeopardy! quiz show champion-turned-transgender advocate Amy Schneider, who told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that while things have improved considerably for the LGBTQ community, events like Dinah Shore provide a platform for trans visibility, which hopefully lead to greater acceptance from mainstream America.

“People seeing me on Jeopardy! has changed a surprising number of minds, so I want to keep putting myself out there,” she says. “It’s unbelievable how far we’ve come, but right now, there’s real harm being done because people are being denied basic healthcare [due to discrimination]. So anybody who has a platform like this has a responsibility to speak up.”

As women partied into the weekend, phone numbers and Instagram accounts were exchanged along with drunken kisses. But long-term relationships and future marriages have also been formed here too, and regulars often come back to reconnect with friends they’d met in previous years.

And when it’s all over by the early hours of Monday morning, thousands of women leave Palm Springs feeling like they’ve been a part of something affirming and empowering.

“You can be who you are and no one’s judging you,” says Christine, a Las Vegas resident, as she danced by the pool with her wife Dannee and two friends. “And that just feels so good.”

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

Source: Read Full Article