CINCINNATI — Chris Cicchinelli, president and CEO of Pure Romance, a leader for in-home sales of pleasure products, and his wife, recently announced they would donate $2 million to the Transgender Health Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The Cicchinellis launched their Living with Change: The LC Foundation in January. The organization is dedicated to providing education, resources, and financial assistance to the families, friends and teachers or transgender people.
According to Cincinnati.com, the organization was created following the Cicchinellis experience with their 10-year-old child, LC, who is trans. The couple credits the Children's Adolescent and Transition Medicine Clinic for helping them accept her as a girl.
“Studies show that (LGBTQ+) youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth,” said Chris Cicchinelli in the Cincinnati.com report. “It wasn’t until our own child came out as transgender that we truly understood. Our daughter opened our eyes — in more ways than one — to the fact that something must be done."
The hospital will receive the donation over the next five years.
According to the report, Dr. Lee Ann Conard, the clinic's director, said, “This ... is pivotal in uplifting a community that has been historically marginalized.”
The Transgender Health Clinic opened in 2013, and says it has tripled its patient base in the past two years.
