Under the agis of the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Studies Program at UCLA, Queer Cats publishes peer-­-­ and editorial-­ -­ reviewed interdisciplinary LGBTQ research along with the proceedings of our annual QGrad (queer graduate student) conference. Queer Cats provokes dis course that inspires, expands and challenges our understanding of LGBTQ iss ues, from the local to the global. Queer Cats provides a critical space for quee r knowledge production, as it unites a multiplicity of scholarly voices in a critica l dialogue about the past, present and future of LGBTQ studies.

The name “Queer Cats” commemorates one of the earliest LGBTQ uprisings in the United States (pre-­ Stonewall) that began on New Year’s night, 1967, when t he patrons of the Black Cat Tavern in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angel es protested police brutality in the name of queer freedom.