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The Australian Sex Party's candidate for the ACT election has claimed religious extremists have threatened to kill his female dog Bruce unless he stops meddling with the church. Steven Bailey, a former Katter Australia Party member who split due to his pro-marriage equality views, is used to receiving the odd threat. But a letter targeting his five-year old pooch has proved too much. "Leave our churches alone – I hope your dog likes poison," said the hand-written note, left at the front door of his home on Friday. Mr Bailey has been campaigning for religious groups to stop claiming tax subsidies as charities and believes the threat is politically motivated. He has registered a complaint with ACT Policing and officers are now investigating. With a number of dog-baiting cases across the territory, Mr Bailey has decided that Bruce the placid labrador will be moved to a friend's house as a precaution. Mr Bailey said he has received a number of "disconcerting messages" in recent weeks but considered the threat against Bruce to be distasteful and disturbing. "I just don't want this to set the tone for the election campaign," he said. "The ACT is known for its relatively timid and respectful campaigns although this sets a new low and I hope it's a once off." "At first I was unsure about going public with this issue as I obviously want to be recognised for the positive things we can do for the ACT, and I don't want sympathy votes. But I think it's important to bring light to this type of behaviour." Australian Sex Party leader Fiona Patten said she was horrified when she saw the note and could not understand why anyone would want to hurt Bruce. "This is not the first time that candidates and members of the Australian Sex Party have been the target of threats," she said. "My partner and I were at the centre of death threats when we published our book on sexual abuse by the clergy in Australia some years ago." Mr Bailey, a musician and writer, said the threat would not dissuade him from campaigning or influence a number of policies to be released in weeks ahead. "Bruce is a very famous dog and has many friends, so she'll be spending time with some friends while I'm working during the day," he said. "The threat was obviously written by someone of low intelligence who doesn't understand the role of punctuation in the English language." When asked why Mr Bailey decided to name his female dog Bruce, he said it was a helpful analogy for explaining gender relations and identity. "If Bruce doesn't mind living in a heteronormative world in terms of her name, then no one else should," he said.

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