A safe sex campaign featuring a gay couple holding a condom has sparked opposition in Queensland.

In response to about 30 complaints, advertising company Adshel removed the offending posters from bus shelters around Brisbane.

But the Queensland Association of Healthy Communities, the organisation responsible for the advertisement, says it could not be more subtle and that the reaction smacks of homophobia.

Spokesman Paul Martin says there has been dozens of complaints about the condom advertisements at bus shelters.

He says the complaint sent to the Advertising Standards Bureau reads: "To promote this lifestyle to our youth is not in the interests of healthy communities - the only place this message should be seen would be to practising homosexuals, not to impressionable youth in our general public spaces."

Mr Martin says he has been upset by the complaints.

"The only conclusion we can reach is that it's homophobia that is driving these complaints but is being masked by saying that they're somehow protecting children from sexualisation," he said.

"It's interesting to note that previous campaigns [of ours] that featured a single person wearing less clothes caused no controversy, yet a fully clothed gay male couple has caused controversy."

The Australian Christian Lobby, which is the source of many of the complaints, says the issue is about condoms, not homosexuality.

"I've been labelled homophobic. This has absolutely nothing to do with gay couples," spokeswoman Wendy Francis said.

"This has nothing to do with anything other than another condom ad in a bus shelter, where the children are catching buses to school and billboards where their parents are stopping at lights.

"I will continue to fight sexual imagery in our outdoor advertising until we can get it removed."

One of the men featured in the ad, Michael O'Brien, is so furious at Adshel's decision to remove it that he last night started a Facebook protest group.

At 2.00pm today, the group already had almost 25,000 members - many commenting that they had contacted Adshel to complain.

"The aim of this campaign is to promote safe sex for gay men, but also for the wider community," Mr O'Brien said on Facebook.

"We also felt that this campaign and the exposure these advertisements granted would help gain a wider level of acceptance of the gay community.

"The image displays not only love and tenderness; you can clearly see our engagement ring and the Christian cross which Anthony wears around his neck.

"We are real people, and this campaign is about real people. We have been together for six-and-a-half years; we've been engaged since August last year, and just last week we were approved to become foster parents, which will now be happening very soon.

"We are real people, with a real life, in real love."

When the ABC asked commuters at a bus stop what they thought of the image, there was a difference of opinion.

"There's nothing negative about it... if two men want to love each other, I think that's excellent. And it's for a good cause for safer sex," one woman said.

Another woman found it inappropriate.

"Probably because of my age. I know I live in this area where there's a lot of homosexuals, but I just don't feel we need to be advertising it in this manner," she said.

Mr Martin says the Queensland Association of Healthy Communities is looking at what it can do to reverse the decision.

He says his organisation has received a deluge of support from around the country.

"There are lots of people from the community who are directly contacting Adshel, so they're free to reverse that decision and put the ads back up," he said.

Adshel says individual complaints were submitted to their office, Brisbane City Council and the ASB.

"Adshel does not have, and never had, any dealings with the Australian Christian Lobby and has not responded to any requests from this organisation," it said in a statement.

"The decision to remove the posters was made on the basis of the large number of complaints received."

The companys says it does not take a position regarding the views or position of various community groups.