Federal Election: Candidate blasted for 'revolting' deleted posts

Freshly unearthed tweets from the now-deleted Twitter account of a Liberal candidate vying for a Sydney seat at the Federal Election have further exposed her confronting anti-trans views.

Federal Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves has come under fire for her anti-transgender rhetoric on her Twitter, which has since been deleted.

However, one of her tweets from late last year has been unearthed and published by News Corp. In it, she made an unfounded and gross correlation between serial killers and the transgender community.

"Transvestism is very common amongst sexual predators, even serial killers." the September tweet said.

"So how are we women supposed to tell the difference between the ones who are a threat and the ones who aren’t? Easier for women to exclude all males from spaces where we are vulnerable."

Transgender people being serial killers is a trope popularised by horror movies. In reality, trans individuals are far more likely be the victims of violence, compared to cisgender people.

The new tweets – the latest in a string of anti-trans slurs uncovered from her past – were quickly criticised, with her political rival for the seat of Warringah, Independent MP Zali Steggall, saying Ms Deves' views kept "hitting new lows".

"Revolting comments and views from Deves just keep hitting new lows, now including people ‘pretending’ to be disabled, surrogacy as a human rights violation and linking transvestism to serial killers," Ms Steggall said on Twitter.

On Wednesday, news.com.au reported Ms Deves had said surrogacy was a "human rights violation" when responding to US politician Pete Buttigieg on Twitter.

The 44-year-old candidate, who headed a group aimed to defend the rights of women in sport and not to compete against trans gender athletes, previously likened the group's activism to the Nazi resistance.

Ms Deves was installed as the candidate for the inner Sydney seat as a "captain's pick" with the backing of prime minister Scott Morrison who has consistently refused to disendorse her, saying he "won't join the pile on" despite members of his own party calling for her to step aside.

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"Nominations have closed. Morrison and the Liberals stand by Katherine Deves," Greens Senator for Victoria Janet Rice wrote on Twitter.

"They have endorsed comparing transphobia to fighting Nazis, painting trans women as sex offenders, that queer people shouldn’t be parents. Sowing hatred, bigotry and division. This is who they are."

Trans rights activists take to Manly

While Ms Deves' old tweets are being dug up, people took to the Manly Corso on Thursday to protest her views.

Community Action for Rainbow Rights encouraged people to join the demonstration in the wake of Ms Deves' "disgusting comments".

A study from the University of Melbourne found 63 per cent of transgender Australians reported self-harm and 43 per cent had attempted suicide.

The unemployment rate was more than three times higher among trans people when compared to the national rate and 33 per cent of participants in the study reported discrimination.

with AAP

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