Australian Pol Bob Katter Says Being Gay Is a 'Fashion Trend'

An Australian politician has compared identifying as gay to a "fashion trend."

Bob Katter, a member of the country's House of Representatives since 2003 and the head of the right-wing Katter's Australia Party, made the ignorant remark Monday while campaigning for a candidate for Parliament, Anthony Wallis.

"In my whole life up to 50, I had never seen or heard of a homosexual person," said the 73-year-old MP, reports The Morning Bulletin, a newspaper in Rockhampton, Queensland.

Katter had been asked about the surge of same-sex marriages that had occurred in Australia since the country welcomed marriage equality in 2017.

"Now it's fashionable, it's just like a fashion trend -- tomorrow there'll be another fashion," he added. "I just don't want to waste any time on it."

Additionally, Katter, who habitually wears a wide-brimmed fashion statement of his own, said antibullying campaigns in schools were "controversial" and "pro-homosexual."

Social media users were baffled by Katter's remarks -- and some also made light of their absurdity.