One way activists expand their grassroots base is by taking their show on the road.

That's what the National Organization for Marriage, which fights gay-marriage initiatives nationwide, has decided to do this summer. The group's 23-stop tour snakes through 19 states before arriving in D.C. mid-August.

"This tour is about uniting the majority of Americans," Executive Director Brian Brown said. "People across this country are not going to stand for redefining marriage."

Brown said the group hopes to expand from 700,000 supporters to 2 million this year, and the public rallies are part of that effort.

Turnout has been fairly low thus far, ranging from 80 to 250 people in most cities. That may be because the tour isn't tied to any single piece of looming legislation, giving people less incentive to skip work to attend a rally.

NOM works primarily on statewide initiatives like Proposition 8 in California, which reinstated a ban on gay marriage there. The tour through the states helps the group build a stronger base in places that could become key battlegrounds in the fight over marriage.

But the low attendance has helped the Human Rights Campaign, which has clashed with NOM in several state battles, argue that the grassroots tour is a sham designed to draw counterprotesters.

Supporters of gay marriage have tried to disrupt the rallies in some states. HRC spokesman Fred Sainz accused the group of inciting those reactions to collect evidence for a court case.

"NOM rolled out a summer of nationwide events in order to draw lawful protesters, all so that NOM and its allies can pepper ongoing lawsuits challenging public disclosure laws with made-up stories of harassment," he said.

Brown dismissed the accusations, noting that video footage shot at the rallies shows that people attended the rallies and that the accusations of harassment are real.

"It's a little absurd to say we made up video," he said from Minnesota Wednesday evening. "So are we also making up the responses?"

The tour winds up with what's expected to be a larger rally in Washington, D.C., on August 15. Until then, Brown said he plans to continue posting video footage from the road – including that showing any further clashes with opponents.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org