Brendon Ayanbadejo, a Super Bowl champion and ally to the LGBT community, spoke to the host of the Sunday News program Meet the Press about the significance of basketball player Jason Collins announcement that he’s gay.

‘It’s really a show of the changing of the tides and what’s to come in the future,’ Ayanbadejo said to host David Gregory.

Gregory noted while there might be changes in societal attitudes toward acceptance, the fight for gay equality continues to be a political firestorm. The former Baltimore Raven agreed.

‘Politically we’re still fighting to change a lot of things to be accepted federally and to gain marriage equality in the other 40 states,’ said Ayanbadejo.

Asked if he knew of other professional sports players planing to follow Collins’ out of the closet, Ayanbadejo insisted he did not. However, he maintained they would have vocal allies.

‘When an athlete does come out, they’ll have a supportive group around them.’

Below is a clip of the interview.