Steven Goldstein is an American political activist, who works as Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, an NGO which addresses civil and human rights across America.
Goldstein received his B.A. from Brandeis University, an M.P.P. (Master in Public Policy) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Goldstein was co-campaign manager for Jon Corzine for U.S. Senate in New Jersey in 2000. He had previously worked for the U.S. Congress as press secretary to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, and as a counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
He worked as a television producer as well, before founding Garden State Equality, New Jersey's statewide organization for LGBT equality, in 2004. Goldstein served as CEO and chair of the group until 2013, when he stepped down after being named Associate Chancellor for External Relations at Rutgers University–Newark. Goldstein was described as "New Jersey's most visible gay rights activist" in 2013.
From 2013 until he joined the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in 2016, Goldstein was an associate professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey, and in political science at Rutgers–Newark. He taught courses on social justice advocacy, American politics and political communication.
He was played by Steve Carell in the 2015 movie Freeheld, based on the 2008 Academy Award-winning documentary of the same name.