The Love Story That Convinced Bill Clinton To Support Marriage Equality

When Shane Bitney Crone posted a video called It Could Happen To You on YouTube in 2012, it was inconceivable to him that it would become such an internet sensation, not to mention a potential watershed moment in the struggle for LGBT equality. “I thought maybe a few thousand people would see it,” Crone says now. “Maybe friends in Los Angeles and the gay community, but I didn’t expect it to spread like it did.”

The video, which depicted the heartbreak and loss Crone felt after the tragic accident that claimed his partner Tom Bridegroom and the aftermath of being kept away from Tom in the hospital because they weren’t married and the funeral due to threats of violence from Tom’s family, was viewed by millions around the world who contacted Crone to share empathy and relate their own similar stories. It also caught the attention of Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (who created and wrote Designing Women) who’d met the young couple years before at a wedding, ironically, and decided to turn it into a feature documentary.


The result is the ironically- and perfectly-titled Bridegroom, an emotional and often-humorous true love story that so moved former President Bill Clinton, a longtime friend of the director’s, that he introduced it at the Tribeca Film Festival last spring. The documentary will make its television premiere on Oprah’s OWN network tonight at 10 p.m. following an episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter devoted to LGBT equality and is also streaming on Netflix and a DVD release is scheduled for Nov. 19. Crone, who is sweet, witty and surprisingly uncynical considering what he’s endured, chatted with Queerty the morning after the film’s star-studded Los Angeles premiere about the impact his story has had on people around the world.

Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/the-love-story-that-convinced-bill-clinton-to-support-marriage-equality-20131027/#ixzz2j0jQmnVP