No gays in your village, Mr Katter? Step outside your office. Murray Eales was amused when he heard about Bob Katter's pledge to "walk backwards from Bourke if the poof population of North Queensland is any more than 0.001 per cent".

Mr Eales and his male partner not only live in the independent MP's Kennedy electorate, they run a cafe just a short walk from Mr Katter's electorate office in Innisfail.

Mr Eales, who operates the Goondi Hill Bakery on Edith Street, said Mr Katter's attitude towards homosexuality was not unique in far north Queensland.

But what disappointed him was Mr Katter's passionate defence on the ABC's Q&A program last night of one group in the community - banana farmers - and his apparent disregard for another: gay men.

"Young gay men have some of the highest suicide rates in the country. To feel marginalised in every respect, it must be exceedingly difficult to know, to the person who represents you, you are of no consequence," Mr Eales told The Age.

"I think it's shameful ... He never even acknowledged there are gay people in his community. There are heaps of them."

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