Darnell Moore was born in Camden, New Jersey, on January 24, 1976. He received a B.A. in social and behavioral science from Seton Hall University, an M.A. in clinical counseling from Eastern University, and an M.A. in theological studies from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Moore was the first chair of the Newark, New Jersey, LGBT Concerns Advisory Commission and co-founded the Queer Newark Oral History Project, which conducts oral histories with queer people living in Newark. He is a scholar of queer-inclusive Black theology and Black Christian thought and has published work in scholarly journals including Black Theology: An International Journal, Theology & Sexuality, and Pneuma. He has served in academic positions at Yale Divinity School, New York University, Rutgers University, and the City College of New York. He also writes about the Black queer experience for public audiences in outlets like Gawker, the Nation, and Literary Hub.

Moore's 2018 memoir, No Ashes in the Fire, was critically acclaimed, selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir/Biography. He works as a director of inclusion for content and marketing at Netflix and hosts the podcast Being Seen. His contributions to the city of Newark are explored in Queer Newark, 1885-present, by Timothy Stewart-Winter and Whitney Strub.