Yes, there’s a difference between use and mention, but slurs are still slurs even outside of a negative context or without hateful intent.

Repeating slurs isn’t always necessary and can sometimes still be emotionally draining for the targetted group to see even outside of the negative context. Just something to keep in mind.

It’s not necessary to repeat the hate speech they got defederated over, you can just say “transphobic/homophobic slurs”.