July 23, 2012 | Online

Gay doc breaks Kickstarter fundraising record

On the one-year anniversary of his partner Tom’s death, Shane Bitney Crone (pictured) posted a video to YouTube called “It Could Happen to You.”  It is a 10-minute tribute to the couple's relationship, their hope to marry, and the tragic death of Tom. It then details the refusal of both the government and Tom’s family to recognize their relationship.

The YouTube video has since been viewed almost 3,000,000 times, and has been shared by such celebrities as Neil Patrick Harris, Sara Gilbert, Fran Dresher, and, believe it or not, Piers Morgan.

Linda Bloodworth Thomason, who created the popular sitcom Designing Women, now wants to make a full length documentary about the couple's story. “The prejudice and bigotry that Shane and Tom experienced was not unlike what I witnessed in 1986 when my mother died of transfused AIDS,” she explained.

She went to popular group funding site Kickstarter in hopes of securing the money to make the doc. Bridegroom has now become the highest funded film in the history of Kickstarter. In just four weeks, the documentary has received $384,375. (That's $84,375 more than Bloodworth Thomason had hoped to raise.)

“This is more than we could have ever hoped for, including the tremendous support we got from organizations like GLAAD and people like George Takei, Neil Patrick Harris, Sara Gilbert, Fran Dresher, Denise Richards and Piers Morgan,” Bitney Crone said. “As the debate over Marriage Equality comes to a head, we would like to get Bridegroom out before the election. Our hope and belief is that Tom’s and my story will change hearts and minds in a way that no film or lecture ever could.”

You can watch It Could Happen to You after the jump (tissues required) ...