On Monday, NBA center Jason Collins made history when he came out of the closet, becoming the first openly gay male athlete in a major professional team sport.

In an exclusive op-ed piece for Sports Illustrated, Collins wrote: “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”

Since the news broke, a number of athletes, including many outspoken lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athlete allies, expressed their support and praised Collins on his groundbreaking decision.

Scroll past the tweets for the rest of the story.

Jarron Collins, Jason Collins’ brother:

NBA Commissioner David Stern:

Washington Wizards:

Kobe Bryant:

John Amaechi, former NBA player and first former NBA player to come out:

Brendon Ayanbadejo, longtime, outspoken LGBT-rights ally and former Baltimore Raven:

Chris Kluwe, Minnesota Vikings punter and outspoken LGBT ally:

Ben Cohen, chairman of the Stand Up Foundation:

Scott Fujita:

Wade Davis, openly gay former NFL player:

Martina Navratilova:

Steve Nash:

Hudson Taylor, founder of Athlete Ally:

Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports:

Alan Gendreau, openly gay former college athlete:

You Can Play Project:

Not only have athletes taken their praise for Collins to Twitter, Ellen DeGeneres, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Don Lemon, Chelsea and Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, among others, have also spoken up in support of Collins’s historic news on Twitter.

Although there have been professional male athletes who’ve come out before, like John Amaechi and Wade Davis, none have done so while actively playing.

Collins is currently a free agent.

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