 In December 1973, the Board of Trustees of the APA voted 13-0, concurring that homosexuality was not valid as a diagnosis of mental illness.A small group of opponents attempted to reverse the Board's vote by referendum, but that effort failed, and the APA's membership affirmed the removal of homosexuality as a diagnosis of mental illness.Hartmann's activism led him to be elected a member of the APA Assembly and subsequently Speaker of the Assembly before being elected Vice President (1990) and President of the APA (1991–1992).