Bridegroom tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men who grew up in small towns in Montana and Indiana respectively, each having struggled with the fact that they are gay. Both move to Los Angeles where they meet and fall in love and have a six-year committed relationship. They move in together, take out a mortgage, adopt a dog, start a business and travel the world together. Their union was tragically cut short by Tom’s death from an accidental fall off a roof during a photo shoot.
The events that followed only compounded the tragedy. Shane was cut off legally and emotionally by Tom’s family. He was threatened with physical violence if he tried to attend the funeral and burial service.
This documentary is poignant and enraging and will open a window onto the issue of marriage equality like no speech or lecture ever will. I’m tempted to reveal the origin of the title of this documentary, but I think I will let you discover it for yourself.
Here is a link to a YouTube video that is the seed of the full documentary. It was posted by Shane on the one-year anniversary of Tom’s death.
I’ve saw this documentary too, it was several months ago but I rememebr that it was very impactual – sort of made the significance of this issue hard to ignore. I would definatly suggest seeing it. Kudos to you David for not telling, I think it’s important to get to that part of the film and make the discovery oneself – I had to do a double take when I found out. Very moving.
In Canada, we’ve accepted the reality of gay marriage on an intellectual level, but many people still find it hard to accept on an emotional level. Most of us look at a loving heterosexual couple and immediately, instinctively understand the feelings they are demonstrating, yet we don’t necessarily have that instinctive understanding when it comes to a gay couple. This documentary blows that barrier away. Like it said: it’s not a gay thing, it’s not a straight thing. It’s a human thing.