Influential social conservative Tony Perkins is urging followers to bail on the Republican Party due in part to its support of Ted Olson, the constitutional lawyer whose support for gay marriage has ruffled the feathers of conservative Republicans.

Perkins heads the Family Research Council (FRC), a vehement opponent of gay rights.

“I've hinted at this before, but now I am saying it: Don't give money to the RNC,” Perkins will tell FRC members in the group's next newsletter, POLITICO reported. “If you want to put money into the political process, and I encourage you to do, give directly to candidates who you know reflect your values.”

Olson is leading the legal team challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban approved by voters in 2008. The case is the first to be heard in federal court and is expected to reach the Supreme Court.

In January, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker heard two-and-a-half weeks of contentious testimony on the issue in a San Francisco courtroom.

Olson's army of lawyers argued that proponents of Proposition 8 approved the measure out of animus towards gay men and lesbians. The defense said limiting marriage to heterosexual unions fosters a stable environment to raise children.

Walker ended the trial without a ruling, saying he wanted to review the evidence before listening to closing arguments. However, the court has yet to schedule that hearing.

Olson has said he believes the challenge could have global implications.

“What happens in this case won't just affect the people of California, it will affect the country,” Olson recently told reporters. “And what happens in the United States will affect the rest of the world.”

While Olson has racked up an impressive conservative record – he's served on the board of directors of American Spectator magazine and in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush – social conservatives say his support for gay marriage undermines his conservative values.

Olson, however, argues that gay marriage is a conservative value.

“It is a conservative value to respect the relationship that people seek to have with another, a stable, committed relationship that provides the backbone for our community, for our economy,” Olson wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. “I think conservatives should value that.”

Perkins' moves come after the RNC hired Olson to represent them in a campaign finance case.

“Yes, this is the same Ted Olson that is trying to overturn the results of the marriage amendment in California,” Perkins says. “The outcome of Olson's challenge to Prop 8 goes far beyond nullifying the votes of nearly 7 million voters in California; his efforts could lead to the overturning of amendments and laws in all 45 states that currently define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

Olson says he has been told that “I'm betraying the conservative cause and things that I've stood for in my life.”