GreenTech Geek: Getting LOUD ~ Tea With Lemon

This week I'm gonna shake things up a bit and give you the juiciest meat of my post (sorry, a certain Tea With Lemon editor is still rubbing off on me) up front. If you want to know the back-story of this video, you'll have to get that ...

... after the jump ...

I produced that video and organized the historic, first-ever scooter contingent for a San Diego Pride Parade, and I couldn't be -- well -- prouder. I was a founder, and am the current leader, of the San Diego Sqooterheads, the LGBTQ scooter club that spearheaded the Parade ride.

The ride drew scooterists from the Sqooterheads and two other clubs: the San Diego Scooter Squadron (the city's largets scooter club) and the San Diego Pharaohs (one of the city's oldest scooter clubs). Our ride in the Parade was generously sponsored by two of the premier scooter shops in San Diego, Point Loma Scooters and Vespa Motorsports.

I put all my energy into these endeavors for a few reasons: passionate love of scooters and the scootering lifestyle, admiration for the Mod movement which gave birth to the scooter scene, desire to shine a positive spotlight on LGBTQ scooterists, and eagerness to show LGBTQ scooterists that they can be out and proud and scooterists ... all at the same time.

The Let's Get LOUD video premiered at Bamboo Lounge in Hillcrest last Saturday, at a post-Parade celebration held for scooterists who rode in the Parade. The next day, it debuted on two of the largest online scootering forums in the world -- ModernVespa.com and ModernBuddy.com, which caters to owners of Buddy scooters sold by the Genuine Scooter Company. (I own both types of scooters).

Reactions to the video -- and to the presence of a scooter gang in the San Diego Pride Parade for the first time ever -- quickly began pouring in from around the world. Most were refreshingly positive, with a only few sour apples in the bucket. Here's a sampling:

That's cool ... Two historic firsts for SD Pride, an officially sanctioned military contingent and a scooter contingent! -- Pdxrita from Portland, OR on modernbuddy.com

Nice to see people representin' on their scoots! -- Amy from Atlanta, GA on ModernBuddy.com

Looks like a great day! Way to represent! I rode in the DooDah Parade a couple of years here in LA. Parades, any parade -- be it expressing DooDah lunacy or Pride and civil rights -- are so much fun to be in!! I'm sure you're looking froward to next year already. Good job! -- Skootz Kabootz from West Hollywood, CA on modernbuddy.com

Outstanding! -- Voneschenbach from Seattle, WA on ModernVespa.com

That is a really annoying video. What do these people think they are doing? Do they not know putting a big flag on the back of your scooter can seriously affect its performance? My god! What is the world coming to? -- Paulo from Sheffield, UK on ModernVespa.com

+1000! It is absolutely time for all people to be allowed to be whoever they are without prejudice. For those in the world that don't get that, ignorance is their only excuse. Great stuff, flaunt who you are." Best, -- SDG from Sherman Oaks, CA on modernvespa.com

Looks like everyone had a great time. Nice showing of scooters as well. -- Belkwinith from Naperville, IL on modernvespa.com

I'm proud to be heterosexual but I don't put on a parade about it. -- Monit from Australia on Modernvespa.com

Equal rights for all citizens. It's long overdue. Cool video.

-- Raiderfn31 from Charlotte, NC on modernvespa.com

Genuine solidarity, and looks like a great time had by all. Parades are great. We do Christmas Parade in December here in Lubbock, and my favourite thing is the kids -- kids love scooters! Most amazing thing is that Women & Men who serve our great country were allowed to parade in uniform ... earth shakin'. -- Cheetoh from Lubbock, TX on modernvespa.com

And then I got this comment on Vimeo, from a local viewer named Jarrod in San Diego:

Way to promote the environmentally friendly scooter. You brought the green to the rainbow!

Which allows me to justify this post from an environmental standpoint. Thanks Jarrod!

Let me add how I chose the title -- and catchy J-Lo song -- for the video. A few days before the Parade, when I was visiting Point Loma Scooters owner Eric, he told me that some years he knows when the Pride Parade is taking place.

When he's working at his shop -- located in the western edge of Point Loma, close to Cabrillo Point -- on Parade Day, Eric said he can actually hear echos of the roaring cheers from the Parade route in Hillcrest, bouncing off the walls of the Cabrillo Point Peninsula back down to his shop. The vision of that captivated me. That people can be so joyous, so proud, so loud to be heard half-way across the city. You can probably see, now, why I came up with the title and song I did.

And, you know? Sometimes things just kind of align in the universe. Like when I saw unforgettable scenes like THIS on my TV while watching the Olympic Closing Ceremonies from London last night: