I finally did it! I went to Dinah Shore! And boy was it an experience. For those of you who read my blog last week, my suspicions were confirmed. It was like a Midwestern high school dance. Not in the sense that the boys were on one side and the girls were on the other — after all it is a lesbian event and their were very few men in attendance — but rather the women of color were on one side and the white women were on the other. This, of course, is somewhat of a generalization. I’m sure there will be people who disagree with this observation and that’s fine. It’s true that not every aspect of Dinah was like this. The pool parties were the exception. Something about the sun, a big chlorine pool and live music drew the attention of all the lesbians regardless of racial identification.

At the Doral there was a mix of live bands and hip hop; women hung out on balconies overlooking the barely utilized pool, dancing their cares away to the sound of Lisa Lisa minus The Cult Jam. Special guests like Tila Tequila’s Dani and The L Word cast members graced the stage as starstruck lesbians scrambled for their camera phones.

It wasn’t until the nighttime parties that I found myself having to make a choice between my two groups of friends. One group, made up of rambunctious, hard-core partying white lesbians — the first ones to jump in the pool when the command was given — pounding back beers, their glossy chlorine-soaked spiky hair shimmering in the sunlight. The other group — my sistah girls — the ones I had traveled to Dinah with and felt the most dedicated too. They sipped shots of Patron from small flasks and stayed as far away from the pool as possible, looking at me like I had two heads when I suggested we at least put our feet in. “Do you know how long it took me to get my hair on point?”

The first party I went to of the night was a party geared toward older black lesbians. It was at a beautiful mansion in the outskirts of Palm Springs and, if you were a woman of color over 40, this party was very classy. It had great music, free well drinks and was definitely worth going to.

The next stop was at a party thrown by Out and About and a well-known event planner amongst the black lesbian community. The attraction of this party was celebrity guest appearances, great DJs and free appetizers. We arrived around 1 a.m. missing the fancy fingerfoods, but just in time to see my favorite rap artist of all time, MC Lyte, up at the DJ booth. I hadn’t seen her perform live since the 80s when she had her classic mushroom hairstyle which I tried to copy in junior high. She looked amazing. A short, straightened spiky do that complimented her red vintage leather jacket. The music was jammin’ and the crowd was diverse — not in skin color — but in personality and style. And just when you thought the night couldn’t get any cooler, Eva Pigford, America’s Next Top Model winner who was apparently a little late arriving, jumped up on stage oozing sex appeal as she attempted to explain her tardiness then jumped immediately back off the stage and out the front door disappointing the crowd who were anxious to snap a picture with the apparently very busy runway star.

The night ended with a small gathering back at the Travelodge motel where most of the lesbians of color happened to be staying. More drinking, TV watching and gossiping about what happened at what parties.

Apparently, yet another women of color party was happening down the road thrown by Michelle of Michelle’s XXX. “It was ghetto fabulous!” one sistah reported. “Stud strippers and everything!” Stud strippers? Sounds sexy but we’ll save that for another blog.

And finally, one of my sistahs who happened to have free passes to the traditional White Party (the official Dinah party) — and I’m not trying to be funny, it is really called the “white party” because everyone dresses in their sexiest white attire — says she and her girlfriend were one of “few black dots in the crowd.” They were relieved to be back at the Travelodge with their homegirls bonding over late-night fast food and vodka.

So what does all this mean? I don’t know. I had a damn good time, but was disappointed that I only saw my white friends during the day. How can we work on this as a community? Create more Dinah events that will bring everyone together? Lesbians love sports. What about a three-on-three basketball tournament sponsored by the WBA. Everyone would come out for that. Sexy women of all color in white tanks (I refuse to use the term wife beater) and basketball shorts! Can I head that up for next year? Pleeeeeeease!