Five months before Minnesotans decide whether to amend the state constitution by defining marriage as between only a man and a woman, Fue Xiong will express his sentiments on a catwalk.

The 24-year-old St. Paul man is taking part in a marriage-themed fashion show at a Hmong New Year’s celebration Saturday, March 31, at the U Garden Restaurant in Minneapolis. The event is hosted by SOY, a St. Paul-based gay and lesbian organization for young Southeast Asians. He’ll show off traditional Hmong wedding attire, all in white, arm-in-arm with a male model in traditional green.

“I am fighting for marriage equality not just for me but for hundreds and thousands more, Hmong and others,” Fue Xiong said.

While activists on either side of the same-sex marriage debate gear up for the November election, the SOY event is one of several festive, grass-roots ways in which everyday people who are not necessarily political or protest-minded are speaking out on a sensitive issue.

When it comes to spreading the word, creativity abounds.

Wedding-themed social mixers, food, music and prayer appear to be common strategies as fans and opponents of the marriage ban raise money and awareness in advance of the November ballot.

On its website, the Minnesota Family Council urges supporters of the proposed amendment to join one of their prayer teams or host a “House Party for Marriage.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota for Marriage has been campaigning at churches and mosques and working the phones from its Minneapolis-based call center.

“We put a table up at the front of the church where someone can sign up to volunteer or sign up to do the pledge drive,” spokesman Chuck Darrell said.

Looking at previous constitutional amendment efforts in Minnesota and marriage amendments in other states, one observer estimates the two sides will raise at least $7 million to $10 million by November.

Half of that or more could come from large, national organizations based outside Minnesota, said David Schultz, a public policy professor at Hamline University.

“There are no contribution limits on this one,” Schultz said. “You could see someone writing a check for $1 million.”

Groups on either side have each reported raising $1.2 million. The next campaign finance disclosure isn’t due until June.

Fundraising will likely kick into high gear about midsummer, with television ads and other media campaigns in the fall, Schultz said.

Without a large financial supporter as the Catholic Church has been for the pro-amendment crowd, opponents of the proposal are being more diverse in their approach and combining fundraising efforts with get-out-the-vote mobilizations.

As John Wodele, the former political consultant who served on the administration of former Gov. Jesse Ventura, put it: “(For) the anti-amendment folks, you go to your strength, and your strength is younger, better-educated, upwardly mobile (voters) … and you get a $100 donation, and you get a lot of them.”

HOME PARTIES

On Friday, local bands performed the “Concert to Defeat the Marriage Amendment” at Hell’s Kitchen restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Money raised went to Minnesotans United for All Families.

A key opponent of the amendment, Minnesotans United also is organizing intimate fundraising parties in people’s homes.

On Thursday, standup comedian Jen Schaal of St. Paul will co-host a wedding-cake-themed fundraiser for Minnesotans United at the Roseville home of her friend Melissa Weldon.

“Anyone’s welcome,” Schaal said. A minimum donation of $25 is sought.

On April 12, St. Paul residents Jim Ivey and Monica Bryand, a program officer with the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, will host a wine and beer mixer at the CoCo Collaborative in Lowertown.

Ivey, a Green Party activist, plans to take his wife, and Bryand will take her wife, whom she married in Iowa in 2009. Their marriage is not recognized in Minnesota.

“The polls that we’ve seen show that it’s going to be really close come November,” said Minnesotans United spokeswoman Kate Brickman. “But I think we’ve seen a very broad coalition of people across the state organizing themselves and then coming to us.”

CHURCH SUPPORTERS

Minnesota for Marriage is one of several religious groups supporting the amendment. The multifaith coalition reportedly raised $830,000 last year and recruited more than 10,000 volunteers.

Another is the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s Roman Catholic bishops. It has raised $750,000.

Their efforts go beyond fundraisers. Religious groups are organizing house parties and prayer groups in support of the amendment.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is working with the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which maintains a printable pamphlet of talking points on its website.

The conference has delegated “captains” within each Catholic parish to drum up support for the amendment and has recognized Feb. 12 as World Marriage Day. It asks supporters to sign a “pledge” in support of traditional marriage.

Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, will participate in a Hennepin County Bar Association debate on Thursday.

Darrell, spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, said an interfaith Minnesota Pastors for Marriage Conference will be May 9 at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.

“They’re doing rallies,” he said of the amendment opponents. “We’re going directly to the people, directly to our base. We’re speaking to civic groups, churches, mosques and synagogues all over the state of Minnesota….People are pledging to vote yes on the marriage amendment.”

Explaining why observers may not have noticed many of the same fundraising parties among supporters of the amendment, the Rev. Doug Roman of the Bible Baptist Church in Otsego said: “I won’t draw a lot of attention to it, because I don’t need to convince my congregation about our stance.

“We have a shared view on a biblical definition of marriage in our church. We will pray for it, but we’re not going to have all-night prayer groups for the marriage amendment and that kind of thing,” he said.

TOPICAL T-SHIRTS

There are also groups within the faith community working to defeat the amendment. Members of the White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church recently printed yellow T-shirts that say “On the Side of Love.” They’ve set a goal of talking to 3,000 people about the amendment.

On Monday, Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis embarked on a campaign to contact each of its members and get 1,000 of them to commit to voting “no” in November. The church plans to knock on doors this weekend and organize phone banks, house parties and seminar-style educational sessions.

Other religious institutions – such as St. Paul-based Jewish Community Action, the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ – also have taken a stance against the amendment.

Jewish Community Action, which drew some 800 attendees to an anti-amendment worship service in Minnetonka, recently asked its 2,200 members via email to mention the amendment during evening Passover seders this week.

Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo .

ON THE WEB

For information on the marriage amendment debate, go online to:

— Minnesota Catholic Conference, which supports the amendment, mncc.org/issues/marriage

— Minnesotans United for All Families, which opposes the amendment, mnunited.org