PORTLAND, Oregon (LifeSiteNews) — The University of Portland, a Catholic liberal arts school run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross, employed female “pastor” Brandy Daniels, who is “married” to another woman as a theology professor for the past six years.
A beaming April 27 profile of Daniels, who grew up as an evangelical Christian, in the student-run university publication The Beacon describes how she went from desiring to marry a (male) pastor when she began college to being a “pastor” who is “married” to a woman. Daniels works for the purportedly Catholic university as an associate professor in theology and religious studies, teaching courses on “Queer theology” and “Christianity, gender, and sexuality.”
Daniels also serves as the co-director of the “Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies” department.
“Her research and teaching explore intersections between constructive and political theologies, social ethics, and feminist and queer theories, particularly around questions of identity, community, and difference,” her biography on the university’s website reads.
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Indeed, the Beacon’s profile of Daniels describes how she was raised in a conservative evangelical household and later realized she was attracted to other women during her college years. Daniels also recalled to the publication that it was during her university studies that she “realized” the Bible, including the passages that delve into homosexuality, “shouldn’t” be taken “literally.”
The Catholic Church, which the University of Portland claims to follow, teaches in the Catechism that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and that homosexual inclination, while not sinful in itself, is “objectively disordered.” The Catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “(h)omosexual persons are called to chastity.” Homosexual acts are mortal sins; therefore, anyone who commits these sins and does not repent through the sacrament of confession is in danger of hell.
Daniels also noted in her profile that when she began teaching in the theology department she was initially concerned about working with a colleague she described as “a very traditional kind of theology,” but she stressed that they soon became close friends.
“I was struck by the fact that my own preconceptions foreclosed the possibility (of friendship). And I was dispelled from that fear very quickly in delightful ways,” she said.
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While there is certainly nothing morally wrong with being charitable or friendly toward those who identify as “LGBT,” it does not appear that this supposed “traditional” theology professor made any effort to draw Daniels to conversion or voice concerns about having a Protestant “lesbian” colleague who is an “ordained minister” teaching theology at a Catholic university.
The profile went on to highlight Daniels’ “queer theology” course, which she called her “specialty.” She explained that, for this class, she teaches the work of “queer theorists” such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Gayle Rubin to explore what so-called “queer theory” offers to theology. The course also examines tensions with this “queer theory” in the Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic faiths.
Daniels is also scheduled to publish her first book, titled “How Not to Be Christian: Identity, Formation and the Future in Feminist Theologies,” in November 2026. She told the Beacon the book will answer the question of how to form a community that takes differences “seriously” while remaining “faithful.”
The university has previously drawn scrutiny for promoting LGBT ideology. In a 2022 Good Friday essay, David Turnbloom, another associate professor of theology and religious studies who previously served as the theology department chair, blasphemously compared opponents of homosexuality with the soldiers who nailed Our Lord Jesus Christ to the cross.
“The anger of the Queer community is a grace-filled, divine instrument,” he wrote. “The question for Catholics is: Do we have the competence to see our sin? Without this competence, any courageous acts of ministry run the risk of simply continuing the crucifixion.”
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During Turnbloom’s tenure as department chair, he notably ended the requirement for theology majors to take a course on “Biblical Texts” to allow students more “autonomy” to choose to take other courses such as “Queer Theologies,” “God Our Mother,” and a class on “the intersectionality of gender discrimination with other forms of discrimination.”
The University of Portland did not respond to LifeSiteNews’ request for comment by publication time.
Contact information for respectful communication:
University president Robert Kelly’s office:
Dr. Rachel Wheeler, Department of Theology Chair