The following media statement was issued on 19 August 2011 by a group of constituents in Bob Katter’s electorate of Kennedy who support marriage equality.
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Katter backs down to gay locals ;
Federal Member for Kennedy, Mr. Bob Katter Has Nothing More to Say About Gay Marriage
Mr Katter infamously promised to walk backwards from Bourke to Brisbane if one homosexual was found living in his electorate, this morning two of us asked Mr. Katter for answers. They wanted to understand why Mr. Katter would auction off his hat to raise money for an organisation using focus-groups peddling hate and fear.
According to Mr. Newburrie “We hoped to understand why a man charged with representing our interests would consider us worthy of ridicule and why he would accept a list of names of 32,000 people, virtually none of whom live in North-West Queensland.”
Mr Katter withdrew from the interview claiming that those questions didn’t matter and that he had nothing further to say about gay marriage.
“According to the federally funded program, Headspace 14% of heterosexual teenagers and 30% of same-sex attracted teenagers attempt suicide. This is a big problem when you consider that the studies out of Latrobe University, The University of Sydney and Shine SA consistently indicate that roughly 11% of teenagers report being same-sex attracted”, Mr. Newburrie said.
During a discussion with ABC North West, Mr. James Newburrie challenged Mr. Katter to join him on a walk between Mt Isa and Cloncurry to raise money for teen suicide prevention.
“Obviously it would be unreasonable to hold Mr. Katter to his promise to walk backwards from Bourke to Brisbane. However, it is really disappointing that that Mr. Katter isn’t prepared to help raise money to prevent youth suicide in his electorate. Mr. Katter has given many interviews where he specifically cites rural suicide as one of the most urgent problems facing our country.”
“I terribly disappointed that Mr. Katter is willing to give the ACL, an organisation dedicated to professional vilification a photo opportunity and help them raise money, but isn’t willing to help save young lives. One can only surmise that Mr. Katter continual refrains about rural suicide is nothing more than a cynical vote grab or that he is too cowardly to face a gay man.”, concluded Mr. Newburrie.
On Monday Mr. Katter claimed that the list of 32000 names were 32000 reasons to oppose gay marriage. Twelve hours ago Mr. Newburrie launched his own campaign to collect 32001 names to change Mr. Katter’s mind.
You can join the list at www.facebook.com/equallovecampaign
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If you live in Bob Katter’s electorate of Kennedy, write to express your support for equality here.
