The Cotillion Community

The Amy Morris Homans Cotillion, held annually from 1982 to 2014, was a safe space for lesbian professionals in kinesiology, as well as a challenge and a disruption to the misogyny, homophobia, and heterosexism that pervaded the field in the mid- and late 20th century. In this article, we highlight the lived experiences of the broader Cotillion community. We conducted oral-history interviews with American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAPHERD) convention attendees about their memories of the Cotillion and Pre-Cotillion. Through these stories, we convey the significance of these events for the women and lesbians in kinesiology/physical education departments who attended them. The article begins with descriptions of interviewees’ lives within the field, progresses to how attendees discovered and experienced the Cotillion and/or Pre-Cotillion, and then explores the impact of the Cotillion, both at AAPHERD and beyond the convention.