In the years B.E. (Before Ellen DeGeneres), the Dinah was the province of mostly polo-shirted women seeking a low-key weekend getaway. Now, in the years A.L. (After “The L Word”), it has been transformed into a fashionable bacchanal, nearly a week long, with celebrity guests like Carmen Electra and Joan Jett, large pool parties and dozens of corporate sponsors, who vie for the attention of a community that is suddenly much more visible, and visibly wealthy. It’s Girls Gone Wild for Girls (and Marketing).

“It’s greater than a party,” said Mariah Hanson, a promoter behind the festivities who works under the name Club Skirts. “It’s a really powerful weekend that’s making a statement that we’re having a good time, and we’re going to be together. And there are a lot of major corporations here, and the more corporations embrace this market, the more it shifts everything. It gets us closer to civil rights.”

“It’s a lesbian rite of passage,” agreed Julie Bolcer, the news director of Go!, a national lesbian magazine, who came to the party. “This year I find that the amount of attention that is being paid, the sponsorships that are behind it, it’s almost palpable. If one were going to go to the Dinah, this is the year to do it.”

Just a decade ago, Sports Illustrated caused a financial and social brouhaha with an article in its golf supplement about the party circuit and its affluent, hedonistic attendees.

Image DESERT LIFE A party at the Wyndham. Credit... Angela Jimenez for The New York Times

As one of the first mainstream articles about the event, it drew the ire of prominent sports agents and advertisers, one of which withdrew more than $1 million in business, charging that the magazine had a “condescending mindset” toward women’s golf.