EDMONTON—Another Calgary United Conservative Party candidate has stepped down from the Alberta election race over hateful comments she made on social media.

Calgary-South East candidate Eva Kiryakos made her announcement in a four-minute video on Facebook on Sunday, saying she has been getting threats from a man who wants to release images of offensive posts she has made in the past. Two of the posts in question promoted false anti-immigrant and transphobic claims trumpeted by far-right groups online.

In the video Sunday, Kiryakos talks about her family coming to Canada as refugees from Iraq, and then goes on to show the posts.

One is a video she shared on Twitter about Germany’s “Muslim migrant rape crisis,” a conspiracy theory that gained traction online in 2016 through false reports of sexual assault committed by asylum seekers.

The post contains an image of a sign that says “Rapefugees not welcome” and a girl being chased by men carrying sharp objects.

In her video Sunday, Kiryakos reinforces her belief in the so-called crisis, saying she shared the post because she cares about women being assaulted.

The second post included in her video is a Facebook comment expressing her disagreement with transgender students being able to use the washroom of their choice in schools, in which Kiryakos said she does not want her children to be “brainwashed into accepting perversions as alternative lifestyles.”

In the video, Kiryakos says her words about the washroom debate were misinterpreted, but then doubles down on her transphobic rhetoric, saying, “The possibility of a grown man sharing a washroom with a little girl to me is a perversion.”

The implication is that transgender women do not exist and that men will pose as transgender women to assault women and girls in public washrooms — a scare tactic perpetuated among the far right.

In the final post mentioned in her video, she says it is “very prudent to have the females dress modestly.”

Kiryakos concludes the video by saying she feels she has been bullied and vilified for exercising her freedom of speech.

“To censor myself and continue to be scared is to give into this bully and his threats. How do you stop a bully? You stand up to them,” she said.

“So this is me, standing up, as a mother, an immigrant, and an Albertan. I will continue to voice my opinion. I will not be afraid to speak my mind.”

Kiryakos said in a post accompanying the video that she decided to resign after conversations with other party members because she does not want to take away from the election of her fellow UCP candidates.

UCP Leader Jason Kenney said Monday he appreciates her decision to step aside and “put the party ahead of her own interests.”

“I thank her for that selfless decision. I’ve always been clear that the United Conservative Party is a big-tent coalition that respects human dignity and will protect the rights of people regardless of how they pray or who they love.

Last week, Calgary-Mountain View candidate Caylan Ford resigned after Facebook messages she sent promoting racist white supremacist talking points were made public.

Ford’s replacement, pastor Jeremy Wong, came under fire for saying in a sermon that wives should “submit” to their husbands, and for his ties to a group that practices a variation of conversion therapy.

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