Dude, I was around for the Cotton Ceiling Conference.
Like, literally irl around. It was hosted nearby, even, and I spoke with Morgan Page, one of the people presenting it.
It distinctly referred to the underwear of lesbians who refused to find trans women sexually attractive.
But hey, don’t take my word for it! Let’s hear from Avory Faucette, a trans activist involved with the Cotton Ceiling:
[T]he cotton ceiling [is] us[ed] to challenge cis lesbians’ tendency to support trans causes generally but draw the line at sleeping with trans women or including trans lesbians in their sexual communities.
Drew Deveaux, the originator of the term, is even more specific:
“The cotton ceiling is a theory proposed [by trans porn star and activist Drew DeVeaux] to explain the experiences queer trans women have with simultaneous social inclusion and sexual exclusion within the broader queer women’s communities. Basically, it means that cis queer women will be friends with us and talk day and night about trans rights and ending transmisogyny, but will still not consider us viable sexual partners.
The term cotton ceiling is a reference to the “glass ceiling” that second wave feminist identified in the workforce, wherein women could only advance so high in the workforce but could not break through into positions of power and authority. The cotton represents underwear, signifying sex.”
So right there from the horses’ mouth–
The cotton ceiling represents underwear, signifying sex, and the underwear in question refers specifically to lesbians’
Please, don’t try to retcon history to someone who watched it go down.