Contact: Traditional Values Coalition, 202-547-8570

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition said today the Cargill Company needs to rehire an employee the agricultural company fired in Virginia because he had a pro-marriage message on his pick-up truck.

"This is an outrageous example of a company which cowers to the homosexual lobby," Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, said today.  "Cargill needs to get some backbone immediately and rehire this man."

"This sort of nonsense plays well in San Francisco but not in the Shenandoah Valley."

Luis Padilla was terminated from his employment at a Cargill Foods plant in Harrisonburg because of a written message on the rear window of his pickup truck that read: "Please, vote for marriage on Nov. 7." That is the day when voters in Virginia will be considering a proposed amendment to the state constitution protecting traditional marriage.

The company warned Mr. Padilla that such pro-marriage statements "harassed" homosexual employees at the plant.  He made several attempts to accommodate the company such as parking away from the plant and, finally, covering the message when he parked near the plant.  But, Cargill fired him.

Numerous state legislators have voiced support for Padilla and the state's Attorney General, Bob McDonnell, issued a public statement that there was nothing about Padilla's sign which amounted to harassment.

"I can find no legal basis for the proposition that passage of the marriage amendment will limit or infringe upon the ordinary civil and legal rights of unmarried Virginians," McDonnell said.