Steve Zeiger is a United States Air Force veteran and activist. He was born in 1962 in southern Illinois. Enlisting in 1981, Zeiger served in the US Air Force for more than twenty years, including during the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" period beginning in the early 1990s. A gay man and sometimes perceived as unmasculine, Zeiger remained in the closet through his years in the Armed Forces. After his retirement as a Master Sergeant in 2001 and the end of the military's ban on openly LGBTQ+ service members in 2011, Zeiger became an activist supporting LGBTQ+ members of the military. Among other achievements, Zeiger was responsible for the first LGBTQ+ representation at Scott Air Force Base's annual Diversity Day event; organizing the first formal military presence at PrideFest in downtown St. Louis; leading in the effort to begin a wreath laying ceremony at Soldier's Memorial during Pride Week; and leading an LGBTQ+ contingent at the St. Louis Veterans Day parade. Additionally, Zeiger served as Operations Director of Pride St. Louis and on the Soldiers Memorial Commission.

Military service has been an important dimension of the movement for LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality. Starting in World War II, men and women deemed homosexual were categorically prohibited from serving in the US Armed Forces. This was in line with the contemporary understanding of homosexuality as a kind of psychiatric illness. Service members determined to be homosexual after enlisting were subject to discharge. Many LGBTQ+ Americans chose to serve despite this prohibition, although they were forced to remain in the closet. The military's ban denied LGBTQ+ people the opportunities associated with military service; contributed to the stigmatization of sexual and gender difference; and excluded LGBTQ+ Americans from full participation in civic life. The ban was repealed in 2011 after decades of debate and political and legal struggle, and this repeal represented a crucial step toward the integration of LGBTQ+ people into the mainstream of American society.