Live chat on LGBT doc ‘Bridegroom’ today at 9 a.m.

In 2011, Shane Bitney Crone’s life was upended -- his lover and business partner, Tom Bridegroom, accidentally fell off a roof in L.A. and died. Crone spent the next year documenting his own grief and made a video tribute to his partner titled “It Could Happen to You.”

But the video wasn’t just about how an accident can change one’s life -- it was about the aftermath of his partner’s death, and how Bridegroom’s family, unaccepting of his homosexuality, effectively blocked Crone from further involvement in his partner’s affairs. Because the two weren’t legally married, Crone could not access hospital records or do many other things a widower usually would.

The video, posted to YouTube (you can watch it above), went viral and had garnered more than 4 million views. Now, it’s been made into a full-length documentary. Join us for a live chat 9 a.m. today about the movie.

L.A. Times theater critic Charles McNulty will talk with Crone about his journey, his short video and the film, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 and won the audience award for documentary. It opens in Los Angeles on Friday.