Local singer-songwriter and author Crystal Cheatham is looking to inspire LGBT youth to embrace both their religion and sexuality.
Cheatham introduced the IDK Project, a series of interactive youth-focused workshops based on her newly published e-book, “Identity Kit: For Queer Christian Youth,” Sept. 28 at the William Way LGBT Community Center. The workshops will run every Thursday through the end of November.
Cheatham said she found inspiration for the effort from her own experiences with faith-based homophobia.
“I think for me, I took all of that stuff personally,” Cheatham said. “I believed whole-heartedly the things that my denomination told me, so I was that naïve young adult who was just eating up everything. I internalized a lot of that negativity, a lot of the homophobia, a lot of the spiritual violence, and it made me afraid to be myself — not only as a lesbian but in all aspects of myself.”
Cheatham dealt with that struggle by distancing herself from her faith and focusing instead on exploring her sexuality. She said she conceived of the “kit” as a way for youth to “bypass that stage where you have to put the rest of your life on hold to figure yourself out.”
Cheatham holds a master’s degree in creative writing and put her skills to work when creating the kit and the accompanying workshop series, which explores the negative images projected by some religious communities and offers tools to overcome them.
“Writing has always been my thing,” she said.
She took her idea for expanding the e-book to William Way, and was invited by director of center services Candice Thompson to join the Out and Faithful board, which, along with Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia, helped inform the content for the workshop series.
Soulforce has also been a major contributor to the effort, donating web space for the project and allowing Cheatham to table events with them.
One area on which Cheatham did seek feedback was transgender issues.
“I didn’t know I had so many things wrong as far as the transgender identity was concerned,” she said.
Fellow presenter J. Mase 3d was integral in ensuring trans-specific issues would be appropriately addressed in the workshops, Cheatham said.
The workshops are free and open to the public.
“We will not turn anyone away,” Cheatham said. “If you come, then you are definitely a part of us.”
The curriculum during the workshops will build upon itself, but Cheatham said participants are welcome at any session.
Although Cheatham identifies as Christian, she said people of all religious backgrounds are welcome at the workshops.
She is eager to bring the sessions on the road to youth groups and churches.
“I would love it,” she said. “All they have to do is send us an email. If they want us to come, we want to come. We want to share this experience with them.”
Cheatham said she’s hoping to reach as wide an audience as possible.
“Every time I turn on the TV, every time I read the newspapers, something in the queer world has happened,” she said. “It all stems from our views on religion and this unsaid rule that God hates gays. It’s there and somebody needs to challenge it. That is why I am doing this.”
Her book is currently offered on Barnes & Noble’s website but she also plans to make physical kits from the work, which will also be sold online.
She said having a tangible work will be essential for youth in need of assistance.
“In rural areas, youth don’t have access to community centers like the William Way,” Cheatham said. “ They have limited knowledge of the Internet and what resources are out there.”
Cheatham is accepting donations to make sure kits are available to those who may not be able to purchase them.
She is in the process of establishing IDK Project as a nonprofit organization, a process she said she learned about in part from her involvement with LGBT youth organization Q Spot. Her board will soon be up and running, and she has already started booking a workshop tour.
“I will never take a break,” she said. “I am gearing myself up to do this full-time.”
For more information, visit www.youridk.com or email [email protected].
