Sunday's gay rights rally held outside the office of Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has encouraged the controversial Australian Sex Party (ASP) to have a candidate to run in Mount Isa.

The protest, led by gay rights advocate James Newburrie, attracted approximately 70 supporters who could be seen waving placards and chanting catchcries on Simpson Street.

ASP spokesperson Fiona Patten said the party was still in the beginning processes of arranging for a candidate to run in the region in time for the 2012 Queensland state election.

"It's almost 90-per-cent certain that we will be running a candidate in the near future, we believe people are ready for a civil libertarian view in politics," she said.

The ASP were approached by Mr Newburrie to auspice the rally and have since given their full support behind the campaign.

Ms Patten said the party was elated with the outcome of Sunday's demonstration.

Australian businesses must pay more than $400 million to a US company to block porn sites from hijacking their brands on the new .xxx domain.

And they have less than 45 days to do it.

Australian Sex Party Convenor Fiona Patten slammed the .xxx “red light district” as corporate extortion, opposed by both the adult industry and governments worldwide.

“Effectively the ICM Registry is selling off other people’s trademarks,” she said.

“It’s a pretty brilliant money-making venture.”

Triple-X domain names officially went on sale last week for US$199 ($191).

The scheme means unscrupulous buyers can cash in on the reputation of Aussie businesses by snapping up a domain in their name – for example, harveynorman.xxx.

Ms Patten, describing the registry’s control as “quite frightening”, said a private company for the first time could decide the content on an organisation’s website.

Australia has more than two million actively trading businesses, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Non-adult businesses have up until October 28 to apply to prevent their trademark from being registered.

In the good old days of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, it was not unusual for the civil authorities in Queensland to take a creative approach to public order-and-law enforcement, in the process sometimes overstepping the boundaries of proper conduct. In Mount Isa, dominated as it is by the Katter family, nothing much has changed, as James Newburrie has discovered.

Newburrie seems an unlikely candidate for the role of Katter’s scourge, but in recent days he’s managed to land more punches on Bob and his son and heir, Robbie, than seasoned politicians who’ve been trying their entire lives.

Newburrie is a modest man. A self-confessed nerd who “could program a Commodore 64 before I could tie my own shoelaces”, he’s now an IT security specialist for a major mining company. A former Liberal who resigned when Tony Abbott became leader. Most surprising of all, a former Katter voter.

He now says he was duped: on his way to vote, he asked one of Hat Man’s aides how Katter felt about gay marriage. After calling the man himself, the aide assured Newburrie that “Mr Katter is all for civil liberty”.

“I hope Mr Katter had a good laugh about my gullibility,” says Newburrie, whose sole claim to fame, until recently, was dressing as Lady Gaga in a bid to win tickets to her concert.

“I do not do drag,” he told me, “but for Lady Gaga I was prepared to get photos.” Yes, James is gay.

Bob Katter is not. Nor does he like gays very much. He doesn’t seem to like Parliament very much either, rarely turning up to vote. But he made the effort when Labor amended 84 laws that discriminated against gay couples. He voted against.

He once famously said ”I would walk from Brisbane to Bourke backwards if the poof population of North Queensland is any more than 0.001%” — a challenge James is happy to call him on, though in view of Katter’s age, he won’t insist he faces backwards all the way.

James was prepared to overlook, or at least, tolerate all of this. But on August 16, something changed.

“I saw Mr Katter auction his hat to raise money for an organisation which is defending NSW laws that allow schools to kick kids out just for being gay,” he said, fuming. “I saw him auction off his hat and say, essentially in my name, that gay people do not deserve respect and are worthy of ridicule. And that made me so incredibly angry …

“I just think we should get Mr Katter in front of the news cameras to apologise for a career of vilifying homos-xuals.”

Carl Katter, Bob’s gay half-brother, was equally incensed, despite the family connection.

“I spent Christmases with his family and grew up with his children, but when it comes to a choice between honesty and integrity and some kind of notion of family, it’s pretty obvious which one takes precedence,” said Carl. “The kind of behaviour that was undertaken at that rally was a whole new low. He went too far.

“I was shocked by it, I just couldn’t believe that was allowed to be held in the Great Hall of our Parliament.”

Like Carl, Newburrie believes Katter has blood on his hands for creating and reinforcing attitudes that lead some young gays and lesbians, especially in rural areas, to despair of ever being accepted, and to take their own lives. So to bring it home to the “outback hero”, Newburrie decided to organise a rally for equal marriage on the street opposite Katter’s constituency office in Mount Isa.

That’s when the ghost of Sir Joh rose and smote him.

Mount Isa City Council at first refused to even process James’s application, and continues to place obstacles in his way — most of them unsupported by the relevant legislation, The Peaceful Assemblies Act (1992).

They demanded an exact location: James gave them a map and GPS co-ordinates. They demanded public liability insurance, which is not available to individuals (and not a legal requirement): The Australian S-x Party stepped in to auspice the rally using its insurance.