Last night, after my guests had gone home, I finally had a little time to watch one of the many movies I had bookmarked on Hulu. After browsing around a little, I had settled on a documentary film from 2013 that I wished I had seen much sooner. The movie is called Bridegroom, and it is so named for one of the two subjects of the movie, Thomas Bridegroom, who passed away after an accidental fall from a rooftop back in May 2011 in California.
The film is based on a YouTube video created by its other main character, Shane Bitney Crone, Thomas's partner for six years. The video, It Could Happen To You, tells the story of Thomas, of Indiana, and Shane, from Montana, two young men who were introduced to one another in California and went on to have the most beautiful of loving relationships. The snapshots and home videos interspersed throughout the story show that to be clearly evident.
Both Thomas and Shane came from somewhat rural backgrounds, but their families were worlds apart when it came to acceptance of their respective sons' homosexuality. Whereas Shane found mostly love and acceptance from everyone in his family, four generations of them to be exact, Thomas's parents were wholly unaccepting, and blamed Shane for their son's homosexuality. His father even threatened him with a shotgun upon learning of the fact that his All American son was gay. The boys persevered though, managing to maintain a relationship with at least Tom's mother.
Of course, Tom's tragic death at the age of 29 was a sad foreshadowing of the very basis of both the YouTube video and the movie. In the days that followed the accident, Tom's mother came to California to retrieve her son's body for burial back in Indiana, and this set of a chain of events that would lead to an activism that continues to strive for 8+ years now. Tom's family completely shut Shane out from Tom's funeral, with threats of violence if he were to show up. Powerless and heartbroken, Shane turned whatever feelings he was feeling and poured himself into spreading their story.
Oh, I wish I had seen this much earlier, but nonetheless, I have seen it and it affected me profoundly. I've never understood all of the hatred bestowed upon gay people simply because of whom they love, and I pledge to continue to spread any message of peace and harmony among everyone, especially my kind.
The film finishes with a montage of various happily partnered same sex partners set to the backdrop of today's song. It's a stark reminder of the importance of acceptance and equality for all of us. It's not the only song featured in the movie, though. Several beautiful songs written and performed by some of Tom and Shane's friends are also featured in the movie, and you can check out Beautiful Boy, written and performed by their friend Coleen McMahon, right here. In the meantime, here's Same Love...
In case you might be interested in seeing the film, Bridegroom, here is Shane's original video, It Could Happen To You...
