Wisconsin GOP candidate Bill Berrien, who’s running on a family-values platform, followed a transgender porn star and multiple sexually explicit writers on his Medium.com account — including authors of essays titled “Pegging is A-OK.”
As a Republican running for governor, Whitefish Bay businessman Bill Berrien is campaigning as a conservative leader who claims to stand up for family values. Berrien, CEO of Pindel Global Precision, is especially critical of transgender individuals, saying they are engaged in “radical social experimentation.”
“Take it from a dad and a coach, I will keep boys out of our daughters’ sports and locker rooms,” Berrien says in a recent TV ad. Another spot praises President Donald Trump for “protecting our daughters’ sports.”
But Berrien’s online footprint tells a different story — one that he quietly tried to erase in recent days as uncovered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
On Medium.com, Berrien, 56, had an account following a transgender porn star named Jiz Lee and a series of writers who publish sexually explicit material. Lee, who is queer, trans, and non-binary, has appeared in more than 100 adult films and was invited to Williams College to speak about porn and empowerment. Berrien not only followed Lee’s page but also “clapped for” an essay on “ethical porn.”
Other writers on his follow list included Octavio Morrison, author of posts such as “7 Types of Orgasmic Sensations” and “3 Terrible Reasons to Have a Threesome,” and Emma Austin, who calls herself “a wholesome perv with a touch of whimsy,” with essays titled “Pegging is A-OK” and “I Love Getting Jackhammered.” Berrien also followed Sherry Mayle, whose content includes “The 9 Types of Couples Who Want to Have a Threesome with You,” and Missy Garcia, author of “3 Parts for Transformative Orgasmic Pleasure.”
Beyond individuals, Berrien subscribed to publications like Sexography, a blog that promotes itself as “an inclusive place for people to talk about and explore sexuality from all orientations, cultures, and perspectives,” and Polyamory Today, which advocates for non-monogamous relationships. At one point, he even applauded an essay titled “My Husband Loves Watching Me Flirt With Another Man.”
When asked by reporters, Berrien’s campaign confirmed he had removed nearly half of these accounts. The Wayback Machine showed that on Jan. 23, he followed 41 accounts, but after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel questioned the campaign on Sept. 15, he cut that list down to 22. Still, as of Sept. 18, he was following Sexography and several individual accounts with sexually explicit content. (RELATED: Self-Described “Extremist” “Communist” Starts Left-Wing Gun Club in Wisconsin)
A spokeswoman for the campaign dismissed criticism of the governor hopeful’s online choices. “It is absurd to suggest that Bill would know about a particular author’s personal choices or by reading one article by an author would agree with everything else they wrote,” she said, adding, “It is also absurd to suggest that reading articles about sex as a happily married adult man with three children is in any way out of line with conservative Catholic values.”
Yet this controversy comes on top of questions about Berrien’s consistency on the issues.
He once backed ranked choice voting and nonpartisan primaries, even joining the group ‘Democracy Found’ that promotes those reforms. He has since reversed himself, saying he no longer supports them — a position change that has drawn fire from conservatives who view ranked choice voting as a Democratic project.
Berrien has also wavered on Trump. During the 2024 Republican primary, he and his wife gave $33,200 to Nikki Haley’s campaign and affiliated groups. He later went on conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell’s show to walk it back, saying he had changed his mind. In his ads today, Berrien leans heavily on praising Trump.
The pattern has left critics calling him inconsistent. One Democratic strategist said, “If you want to go and criticize people’s freedom to live the way they want to live, on one hand, and expect that you yourself can do whatever you want, that’s exactly the kind of hypocrisy that people have concerns with. You can’t have it both ways.”
Berrien’s campaign, meanwhile, insists the candidate is focused on jobs, manufacturing, and protecting Wisconsin families. But his social media history and a record of shifting political positions suggest a candidate still trying to define where he truly stands. (RELATED: Socialist Candidate Enters Wisconsin Governor’s Race)
