"'Temperamental' was code for 'homosexual' in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men -- the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich -- as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States" -- Publisher's description.