Ms Deves, who has previously revealed she has a gay sibling, posted the images of her celebrating the festival in a blue feather boa on social media last month before nuking her social media accounts to run as a Liberal candidate.
But she did so complaining that trans activists had wrecked the movement for gays and lesbians.
“Back in the 90s, when Sydney Mardi Gras was still a grassroots street parade with a killer party at Hordern celebrating the progress of gay and lesbian rights,’’ she wrote.
The tweet was one of her last before she deleted her Twitter account to run as a Liberal candidate and was posted on March 6, 2022, just four days before she lodged her nomination form with the NSW Liberals.
Asked about her controversial comments, Ms Deves who previously said there was a link between transvestism and serial killers, told 2GB host Ben Fordham on Friday she was absolutely not transphobic.
“Of course not, Ben,” she said.
“This isn’t about that. It is about women and girls. Back in the early ‘90s I was going to Mardi Gras, I voted for same-sex marriage. I don’t have an issue with that. But this is about a collision of rights, and as I keep saying we just need to be able to debate it in a respectful way and take into consideration the points of view from all the stakeholders.”
Her now-deleted tweets include claims half of all transgender women in jails are sex offenders – a reference to a figure claimed by an activist group Fair Play for Women that has been disputed by Britain’s Ministry of Justice.
She also previously suggested the gay newspaper Pink News should be known as “the Rainbow Reich”, that Wear It Purple Day in schools was a “grooming tactic” and attacked gay surrogacy as “a human rights violation.”
Asked if she could win the seat, Ms Deves said she was confident and believed she had a fighting chance.
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