In 2022, I’ll Be Your Rock started with one woman – Christine Terpening – making the decision to live OUT loud. She had come out – or as she likes to say, fell out - herself at age 44, and the experience nearly killed her. After having experienced threats, harassment, and discrimination in the same town that she has lived in and championed, her entire life, Christine felt lost and disconnected from her home and community. A former Rodeo Queen who represented the State of Michigan twice in
her youth, Christine had grown up to be the mother to three well-known athletes, FFA members, and a Maple Syrup Queen, but still Christine was inundated by bullying, community stigma, and ignorance that had colored her life as a le***an since childhood. Coming out, and the trauma of her own experience,
had left her hometown no longer feeling like the safe place she knew it should be. When Christine started getting to know the young people she worked with in her position as a high school volleyball coach, she realized that the decades between her time in school and present day hadn’t changed the landscape of rural experience nearly as much as it had in bigger cities. Those kids, and data on su***de in LGBTQ+ youth that she learned from an NBC News story, inspired Christine to
start a support group in her hometown. Putting her own safety on the line, she posted on social media for any youth in the area to see, that she would be the Rock they needed. At IBYR’s first meeting, in January 2022, only one youth, an LGBTQ+ adult couple, and Christine attended. The second meeting, in February, was attended by two youths, Christine, and one of the youth’s parent. By the third meeting, in March, tables were being pushed together as more and more kids felt enabled to express themselves. In August, on a shoe-string budget, the little village of Vermontville hosted its first annual Vermontville Youth Pride – a beautiful, rainbow-colored day filled with joy and acceptance. In October, when threats against the I’ll Be Your Rock homecoming float kept students from riding in the parade, a dozen local adults came out in force, putting themselves in harm’s way, to make a statement on acceptance, inclusivity, and kindness, by riding in their place. By November, only 10 months after that first meeting, Rocks had shown up in record numbers to help educate the local community about school board candidates who wanted to limit the rights and access available to LGBTQ+ students and had worked together to support candidates who understood both the
law and the necessity of inclusivity in schools. IBYR has already, in its short history, created a solid presence of support for rural LGBTQ+ youth, with many people from outlying areas reaching out for resources and guidance. In doing so, Christine’s dream of helping her own small town come to terms with acceptance has grown, to include every small town. We have witnessed the resurrection of community for the young people we serve in Maple Valley. And we believe in the heart of all Michigan rural communities. With your help, we firmly believe we can make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ+ youth, all over the state – and perhaps, eventually – even beyond. I’ll Be Your Rock exists to prove to young people that even though there is hate in the world –there is far, far more love – and we have seen the evidence of this firsthand. Our model is simple, but the issues are complex. As Hilary Clinton said, it takes a village to raise a child. It is our goal to remind all Michigan villages and towns that every child – no matter how they identify – deserves to be raised with
love and kindness. As Christine is known to say: Coming out should be a happy story, not a survival story. And that, at its core, is I’ll Be Your Rock’s vision for Michigan youth. I'll Be Your Rock is possible. in large part, because of a community of Rocks and a dedicated board of directors--
Ethan Oslund, board member
Stacey Filak, Treasurer
Cassey Tien, Secretary
Kallie Strouse, Vice President
Christine Terpening, President
