Heartbreaking viral video about love, loss and a plea for same-sex marriage rights

Just as the state of North Carolina has voted to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage even in light of an angst and violent encouraging sermon from a pastor on the issue went viral a young man by the name of Shane Bitney Crone has posted his own viral video.

The video is entitled “It Could Happen To You” and in the following 10-minute clip Crone details his relationship with his boyfriend of nearly 6 years. Shane lost Tom to a roof-top accident just days after his 29th birthday and felt compelled to share his story for Tom’s memory and hopefully to change a few minds in regards to the nature of love in the light of same-sex relationships.

Crone uploaded the video on Sunday and it already has over 600,000 views as of this post.

In the clip he reveals that he and Tom came out together to their families and that his family was very supportive while Tom’s did not approve or understand. He candidly reveals that Tom’s father confronted him with a gun during a Christmas visit and attacked him physically. Tom’s mother blamed Shane for, “making her son gay.”

After Tom’s passing his mother took his body back to Indiana and Shane was told he would receive physical harm if he tried to attend. He relented and discovered that he was not even mentioned in the funeral program or memorial service in spite of being the most important person in Tom’s life.

Because they had no wills Shane was unable to legally get any information on Tom’s death or what happened afterwords. He made the video in hopes that it might inspire change because if the two had been able to legally marry as they wanted then the pain of his loss would have been much more bareable.

Shane told Radar:

“You ask yourself what can I do with this? I was thinking of all the things ahead.. dreading birthdays, anniversaries. It was therapy for me to edit it for myself. I was just going to put it out there… It’s hard not to focus on all the negative things… It’s helping me heal. It’s such an overwhelming good feeling. People I haven’t talked to in years are sharing it on Facebook. I hope to change people’s minds and to change their hearts.”

Shane has started a Facebook page called EqualLoveEqualRights which you can check out here.