Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Saturday criticized President Obama for nominating an openly gay man to be the Army’s secretary, charging that the President only did so to curry favor with the LGBT community.

“It’s clear President Obama is more interested in appeasing America’s homosexuals than honoring America’s heroes,” Huckabee said in a statement, according to CNN. “Veterans suicide is out-of-control and military readiness is dangerously low, yet Obama is so obsessed with pandering to liberal interest groups he’s nominated an openly gay civilian to run the Army. Homosexuality is not a job qualification. The U.S. military is designed to keep Americans safe and complete combat missions, not conduct social experiments.”

Obama on Friday nominated Eric Fanning to lead the Army as its secretary. Fanning, who specializes in national security at the Pentagon, would be the Army’s first openly gay secretary.