In 1982, a San Francisco athletic group tries to hold a "Gay Olympics," instigating what will ultimately become a battle at the U.S. Supreme Court and a challenge over the place of gays and lesbians in American society. The Supreme Court is widely viewed as the country's chief defender of civil rights. Yet its long-hidden struggle with demands for gay equality points to a more complicated reality. The inner workings of the Court are exposed, revealing an institution and individual justices - real people with human emotions and deeply felt assumptions - divided and in conflict. Former Olympian Dr. Tom Waddell founds the Gay Olympic Games, an international sporting event meant to nurture a healthy self-image for gays and lesbians while publicly affirming positive examples of homosexuality. The U.S. Olympic Committee, however, doesn't want the words "gay" and "Olympics" combined.