Tony Perkins: Trump's secretary of state pick 'should be particularly alarming to conservatives

A high-profile evangelical leader who backed Donald Trump during the presidential campaign is not happy with the president-elect's pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil executive Rex Tillerson.

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, aired his thoughts on the nominee for America's top diplomat, specifically drilling down on Tillerson's past positions on abortion and gay marriage.

"The ExxonMobil executive may be the greatest ally liberals have in the Cabinet for their abortion and LGBT agendas," a post on FRC's website reads. "That should be particularly alarming to conservatives, who've spent the last eight years watching the State Department lead the global parade for the slaughter of innocent unborn children and the intimidation of nations with natural views on marriage and sexuality."

Perkins pointed to Tillerson "leading the charge" to allow gays to serve as Boy Scout leaders and the company he leads giving money to Planned Parenthood.

"Trump calls Rex a 'world class player and dealmaker,' but if these are the kinds of deals Tillerson makes — sending dollars to an abortion business that's just been referred for criminal prosecution and risking the well-being of young boys under his charge in an attempt to placate radical homosexual activists — then who knows what sort of 'diplomacy' he would champion at DOS?" Perkins wrote.

But while Perkins suggested that ExxonMobil is welcoming to the LGBT community, a number of gay advocates would likely disagree.

The global energy giant has taken serious criticism in the past for not expanding nondiscrimination protections to its LGBT employees quickly enough. Until last year, the company ranked among the lowest of companies its size on the liberal Human Rights Campaign's annual Corporate Equality Index.

ExxonMobil was rated No. 85 out of 100 on HRC's 2017 Corporate Equality Index. That's up 45 points from the organization's 2016 report.

(H/T: The Hill)