NSW Liberal candidate described campaign supporting LGBT youth as ‘grooming tactic’ used by ‘gender extremists’

The Liberal party candidate in Warringah, Katherine Deves, described Wear it Purple Day - a day billed as celebrating diversity - as a "grooming tactic" promoting "extreme body modification" on a now-deleted website.

On the now-deleted website, seen by Guardian Australia, she also suggested a young boy could ask to "remove his penis" after attending a respectful relationships workshop at school.

These comments follow news on Wednesday that Deves had also deleted social media accounts on which she described trans children as "surgically mutilated and sterilised".

Deves, who Scott Morrison lauded as standing up for "common sense" when asked to comment on her advocacy for banning trans women from competing in women's sport this week, was handpicked to run in Warringah despite joining the Liberal party a few months before the election.

While Deves' campaign bio labels her as a "women's advocate", posts from her now-deleted website reveals a series of inflammatory posts about trans people, including one article in which she repeatedly misgenders New Zealand trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard.

The posts, published last year, also criticise the New South Wales police for taking part in Wear it Purple Day, a decade-old advocacy event aiming to reduce bullying and youth suicide by celebrating "diversity and inclusion" raising "awareness about sexuality, sex and gender identity" and challenging "harmful social cultures".

The event has been adopted by police in both NSW and Queensland who wear purple uniforms. In 2019, NSW police said officers taking part in the event were "spreading the simple message that 'you have the right to be proud of who you are'."

"Regardless of their gender or sexuality, young people need to understand they are not alone, and our police officers will be out in the community to not only reinforce that, but to show they can come to us for help," assistant commissioner Tony Crandell said at the time.

But in the post, Deves accused participants of "endorsing extreme body modification and irreversible hormone treatments for vulnerable children".

She claimed the event is a "grooming tactic" used by "gender extremists" to "enforce upon society the false idea that biological sex is irrelevant".

"They want to capture children and adolescents as profit centres by promoting hormonal and surgical gender transition as a solution for emotional distress and social awkwardness, and remove basic safeguarding for children and women," she stated in the post.

She criticised police taking part in the event for "demonstrating their allegiance to this contentious and controversial ideology".

Deves was handpicked to run in Tony Abbott's seat after the federal intervention of the NSW Liberal party. She only joined the party in 2021, and sources told the Guardian she was a "captain's pick" who had not been a frontrunner before the takeover.

On Wednesday News.com.au reported that Deves had also deleted social media accounts on which she described trans children as "surgically mutilated and sterilised" and said she was "triggered" by the LGBT rainbow flag.

According to the report, one of the deleted posts included the words "they will not stand for seeing vulnerable children surgically mutilated and sterilised" alongside a photo of a teenager who had undergone top surgery. In another she reportedly said, in reference to the rainbow flag, "I get triggered by it". "Whenever I see it on social media I think 'What now? What are they demanding now?' And I grew up with gay relatives and siblings and hung out in Surry Hills and X in Sydney in the 1990s. Lots of LGB family and friends, their movement has been destroyed."

After the posts were revealed, the peak body representing LGBTQ+ people, Equality Australia, labelled them "an example of the dehumanising abuse that trans people, and the broader LGBTIQ+ community, encounter every day".

Deves later apologised, saying her comments were "not acceptable".

"My advocacy for the rights and safety of women and girls is well known, and I stand by my desire to ensure we protect the safety of women and girls and our entire community," she said in a statement.

"However, the language I used was not acceptable, and for that I apologise."

But the articles written on her website - which has also been deleted - contain a series of inflammatory comments, including claims the gay and lesbian movement had been "hijacked by trans activists".

"You might be one of the unlucky parents whose son comes home from primary school and says he wants to remove his penis because he is 'really a girl' when he has been nothing but a typical little boy because they've had a 'respectful relationships' workshop at school," she wrote in one post.

Deves is the co-founder of the Save Women's Sport organisation, which has pushed to ban trans women from female-only sports.

Asked about her views on the campaign trail this week, Morrison said she had "raised very important issues" along with the Tasmanian senator Claire Chandler, who has moved a private member's bill seeking to allow sporting groups to exclude transgender people from single-sex sports.

After initially stating he would have "more to say" on whether the government would support Chandler's bill, Morrison walked back those on Wednesday after anger from party moderates.

"It is a private member's bill. The government does not have any plans for that to be a government bill," he said.

The Guardian has contacted the NSW Liberal party for comment.