Since we published our first issue in 2012, the Tagg team have been big fans of The Dinah and its badass founder, Mariah Hanson. We’ve stood in awe watching the women’s weekend Hanson created in 1991 go on to become the largest party for LGBTQ+ women in the world. From introducing queer women to The L Word to platforming future super stars (Doechii, Lizzo, and Katy Perry are all Dinah alums) this annual event has become a core part of LGBTQ+ culture.
Now, 34 years in, Hanson has announced that she’s ready to retire. The news shook queer folks across the internet, with many wondering what this change means for the future of this iconic sapphic event.
Earlier this week, I hopped on a call with Hanson to answer this question and find out what Hanson has planned for her final Dinah and her next chapter. Here’s our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
MH: Thank you so much for your interest in covering my last year
TAGG: Tagg has covered, well interviewed you and covered Dinah since at least…We started in 2012… so since at least 2013. It’s a big deal for us to know that this is possibly the last Dinah.
MH: It’s not the last Dinah. There’s so much interest in purchasing it.
TAGG: Oh, that’s awesome!
MH: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s been overwhelming. So this is my last Dinah.
TAGG: Can I ask why now? You’ve produced The Dinah for 34 years. Nobody would have been upset if you stepped away after 20. So why now? Why 34?
MH: The Dinah has been my life and the progression of the event has also been a reflection of my own personal growth. It’s been an honor to produce it. It’s been an honor to create the kind of joy that I feel like my team and I create every year. It’s been an honor to be a champion. It’s been an honor to be a pioneer. It’s been an honor to stand up for what’s right when it wasn’t necessarily popular yet, and that has created within me a sense of accomplishment and completion.
I’m going be 65 this year and I feel like the Dinah is still this beautiful, thriving, very much alive event that has taken on a meaning in our community that is deep and just very inspirational. I think it’s time to pass the torch and let someone else take the event—and all its beautiful attributes—to the next level.
I think it’s important to know when it’s time. People have been asking me for years, “When will you step down?” And I’ve always said, “I don’t know, but I know that I will.” And then one day I just thought, “It’s time. It’s time. The event’s ready to be passed on.”
Someone else is going to come and take it to new heights. And that’s what I hope happens. I’m going to be there in the background, I’m sure, for a little bit. I want to share all the insight that I can to help whoever takes it over to succeed. But they’re also going to have their own vision and their own idea of where the event goes. And that’s a beautiful thing too.
TAGG: As a black woman, something I’ve always loved about The Dinah is that I never felt like I didn’t fit in.
MH: Of course.
TAGG: Dinah takes women of all gender expressions, of all colors, of all ages. You can be a baby gay or you could have been out for like 30 years. It doesn’t matter. The Dinah has been so inclusive and it’s one of my favorite things about going over the years.
I say all of this to ask: Do you have specific things that you’re looking for in whoever takes over to keep that part of your legacy alive?
MH: Of course. Inclusion and The Dinah are almost synonymous, so whoever takes it over has to be committed to that.
We have—I know this is super cliche—the rainbow as one of our [queer] symbols. And we should never take that for granted. We should never think it’s out of style. It will always represent the broad spectrum of backgrounds and experiences that come together to create something that is beyond beautiful. It’s awe inspiring. So yes, that’s incredibly important to me.
I’m so proud of our community and I’m so proud of how we’re always on the right side of history. We don’t leave anyone behind. And we chastise anyone who thinks that we can because it’s not the right thing to do.
TAGG: After 34 years, what’s your biggest lesson that you’ve taken from running The Dinah?
MH: The Dinah is important to me on two fronts. First: It’s important to me that we reach our customers in a holistic way as they enter the event. It’s key that they are presented with an opportunity to lose all of the -isms and enter into the safe space where authenticity, individuality, collectiveness, commonality, diversity, everything is celebrated because that’s what makes us strong. And I’m committed to that for my customers.
I’m also committed to that to my staff. You can’t just say it and not do it. So we can’t just present this event with all these pretty words, right? We have to be the pretty words.
And so The Dinah is two events. It’s the event that we present to our customers to create a better world for five days so that they can realize that that can happen every day of their lives. It’s a choice.
And then there’s an experience that we have as a team in service to our community that also reflects a sense of support and honor and connection. So that in the midst of a five-day whirlwind event, where we’re all at the end of those five days absolutely tired and have experienced just working around the clock, what I want to create for my staff is that sense of joy in the service that we did because it’s so meaningful.
And so both those things are happening at the same time. One is happening internally, and it helps us to do what we do for you.
TAGG: So, what’s next for you?
MH: Pickle ball!
TAGG: You’ve joined the pickle ball craze.
MH: I’m in the pickle ball craze. What’s next for me is I just really need to just slow down. I’m going to do some traveling.
The Dinah has been a mistress for me. And she’s an unrelenting mistress. I love her, but it’s time to put me first. I’ve always put The Dinah first. I’d like to spend some years just exploring life in a different way.
TAGG: I respect that. Thank you for giving us 34 years.
MH: You’re welcome. And I did that strategically because I want whoever takes her to be very successful. And they get to start off with The Dinah’s 35th anniversary.
TAGG: That’s a really thoughtful gesture.
MH: It’s a beautiful event. It’s so meaningful to our community and our customers get it. My favorite thing is [when customers say] “Happy Dinah.” I didn’t make that up. I was just walking in the hallway and I heard a customer go, ‘Happy Dinah.” And then someone else went, “Happy Dinah.” Like, “Merry Christmas,” or “Happy Hanukkah.”
I thought, “Wow! It’s become this phrase that shows The Dinah means something like Christmas or a birthday. It’s a celebration all on its own.” That’s my favorite.
TAGG: What are you looking forward to with your final Dinah? Is there anything that you’re most excited about this year?
MH: I just hope I’m not blubbering all weekend. People have been so sweet already. I’ve been getting DMs and messages from people I don’t even know, just saying thank you. It chokes me up right now.
TAGG: I think that’s a noble idea, but you deserve to cry over all this success.
MH: It’s so cool.
TAGG: Last question: Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you would want readers to know or—
MH: Favorite moment!
TAGG: Okay, favorite moment. What’s your favorite moment of The Dinah?
MH: Macy Gray. Her concert [at The Dinah’s 30th anniversary in 2021]. She invited me on stage and she sang “Thank You For Being A Friend” to me. And I think that’s the highlight of my career. It won’t ever get any better than that moment for me.
To get tickets and attend The Dinah 2025, visit www.TheDinah.com.