'In the Life' to Air Last Episode in December

In the Life Media, the producer of the long running television newsmagazine "In the Life," has announced that the last episode will air in December.

The program, which will have run for two decades, helped bring LGBT issues into living rooms across the country, and, in doing so, made gay rights part of the mainstream of America's national dialogue. The series used real stories about gay men and lesbians to give these issues a flesh-and-blood reality.

"Studies show that visibility is the driving force behind this rapid shift in cultural attitudes toward the LGBT community," In the Life Media's statement noted. "As the media organization that pioneered LGBT visibility on television, we believe ITLM played a significant role in this historic progress. Today, we pause to celebrate ITLM's remarkable legacy and announce a conclusion and a new direction."

In the past 20 years, the producers of "In the Life" created programs that have covered a number of topics that impact the LGBT community, which run on about 250 public television stations around the country. Topics have run the gamut from education to sports, the arts to prison life.

In March, EDGE reported that philanthropist Herny van Amerigne donated $1 million to the newsmagazine.

"Henry's unprecedented gift is transformative," said In The Life Media Executive Director Michelle Kristel. "It allows us to expand into new and emerging media technologies, broaden the scope of our community outreach and marketing initiatives and continue doing what we have done so successfully for the past twenty years: tell the stories, cover the issues and advance equality for LGBT people."

Despite the generous donation, In the Life Media has struggled for donations to offset production costs. While the statement did not spell out the reasons for closing up shop, it cited the vastly increased visibility in national media. It also alluded to the high costs associated with a TV newsmagazine.