Trevor Keezer said he wasn't on a crusade, he was just wearing a button to work.
The Okeechobee man says his love of God and country got him fired from his Home Depot job, after he wore an American Flag pin on his orange apron that read "One nation, under God...Indivisible."
Though Keezer, 20, wore the pin to work for over a year and a half, he said the button brouhaha didn't begin until he brought a bible to work to read during lunch breaks.
"That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home. So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me," Keezer told WPTV late last week. "It never crossed my mind to take off the button because I'm standing for something that's bigger than I am. They kept telling me the severity of what you're doing and I just let God be in control and went with His plan."
Keezer, a cashier, said he was wearing the pin to support the troops, including his older brother Steven, who is heading to Iraq in December for his second tour, while also expressing his Christian faith.
Home Depot told WPTV that the company doesn't allow non-company buttons, but that it has a proud history of supporting the military and has its own buttons for employees to wear.
Keezer said those buttons weren't to his liking.
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"You can't have country without God," Keezer said. "Every pin they showed me had no 'God' on it or anything."
The hardware store holy-roller said the firing has strenghtened his resolve.
"I want to be a voice for the rest of the Christians and for the citizens of this country to stand up for the country," Keezer said. "You know, quit being told to sit down. Say what you want to say and don't be afraid of the consequences."
