From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam. This is my unsung hero.

Story is where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

I do not know the full name of my unsung hero.

She came straight up to me, she looked me in the eyes and she smiled.

So whoever you are, thank you so much.

Today's story comes from Chui Clinton.

Chui grew up on a ranch in Idaho.

As a teenager, he was a typical small town kid,

working at a hardware store and going hunting with his friends.

But he was also holding on to a secret that he felt made him different from everyone else.

He was gay.

He hadn't told anyone the truth, even his closest friend, a classmate named Spencer.

He was my best friend in high school for a number of years and he was just fun.

We like to go to punk rock together, play video games, and he was just, he was good to talk to. He was fun to talk to. Yeah, he was a really wonderful guy.

Spencer is my unsung hero, because he is the first person I ever came out to,

and it was wholly unexpected.

My parents were away, and it was the one and only time

I ever had a party out at my place.

Just tons of people had a great time and Spencer I were hanging out and he was drinking

and you know having problems with his girlfriend at the time and he was just

like frustrated and upset and he wanted to go home.

Well, I wouldn't let anybody go home in their cars that night who had done any drinking whatsoever.

...