TRI ESS
TRI ESS (SSS, Sigma-Sigma-Sigma, Society for the Second Self) is a US-based social and support organization intended primarily for heterosexual crossdressers and their partners.
History
TRI ESS was founded by Virginia Prince in 1975 as a continuation of FPE, an existing distributed support group. In 1976, TRI ESS absorbed Mamselle, a smaller similar group. Also in 1976, Tri Ess rejected a proposal to merge/reconcile with the International Alliance, a similar group which had broken away from FPE/Tri Ess within recent years.
The group remains very active today with several chapters and independent members throughout the US.
Criticism
TRI ESS doctrine requires that members be heterosexual in orientation and not in pursuit of transition. Because of this, the group has a history of members who felt they needed to falsely state their orientation in order to receive support from the group.
By the rules, TRI ESS has these barriers to entry:
- Homosexuality
- Prospective members must affirm that they are exclusively heterosexual in orientation.
- Transsexuality
- Prospective members must affirm that they are "only" crossdressers, and not interested in pursuing transition.
In recent years, some chapters have broken away from TRI ESS because of these regulations or actively declined to enforce these regulations.
- No officer or contact person of a Tri-Ess chapter shall serve as an officer or contact person of any transgender organization not affiliated with Tri-Ess.
In addition, some chapters have their own additional membership requirements and guidelines:
(Tau Chi Chapter)
- I will not be influenced by anti-Tri-Ess trash talk on the internet and other media.
- I pledge that if I ever decide to pursue an identity other than that of "heterosexual crossdresser," I will convert my membership to "Friends of Tri-Ess" status.
