Yet Another Gate Bug

[Exovian]

I just moved the gang onto a narrow strip of land in the cliffs north of the southeastern cannibal camp. Picture of gate setup attached. I fortified one of the access paths with defensive walls and a gate, making sure to keep the arrows pointing out (in the image, the top part is "inside" of the gate).

The gate seems only able to be locked from the outside. Even though characters look like they are on the inside, the cannot move away without unlocking the gate. If I move people inside and then lock it via the menu, any NPCs inside are unable to move without being drawn to the gate like cat to laser pointer, because that gate must be kept open, it seems. Opening or closing a gate will also sometimes root NPCs where they stand, requiring repeating cntl-shift-f11 applications to get things moving. Should I give up on gates for now?