Garcia said many of the students she has kept in touch with over the years feel the same way. “It’s a big deal to a lot of people,” she said.

Although the majority of students at the school are Roman Catholic, Garcia said she left the faith because of the church’s teaching on homosexuality and what she described as its “basic intolerance.”

Garcia said while she did not expect her alma mater to condone homosexuality, she hoped the administration would be loving and caring.

“There is a middle ground,” Garcia said, noting that she considered the firing of gay faculty at the school unnecessary.

In a Facebook post, Gambaro wrote that although alumnae support for her and her wife had been overwhelming, “the law is not on our side, nor is the church, so we have no ground to stand on.”

As in many other states, it is legal in Missouri to fire someone based on sexual orientation. And while the Roman Catholic Church says gays should be treated with compassion, the church rejects gay marriage and considers homosexual acts a “grave depravity” and “intrinsically disordered.”

Gambaro and Reichert are only the latest in a string of recent gay faculty firings at Roman Catholic schools.