Vice President Joe Biden's Sunday nod to gay marriage is being cheered by marriage equality advocates.

Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Biden told host David Gregory that he is “absolutely comfortable” with such unions.

“Look – I just think … the good news is that as more and more Americans become to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that's what people are finding out is what … what all marriages, at their root, are about. Whether they're marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.”

“I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy,” he added, referring to President Obama's opposition to gay marriage, though he does favor civil unions and and is opposed to marriage bans.

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction – beyond that.”

Biden added that the culture was influencing society's greater acceptance of LGBT people.

“I think Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody's every done so far,” he said. “And I think people fear that which is different. Now they're beginning to understand.”

In a statement released after Biden gave his remarks, an aide rolled back Biden's endorsement, saying his views are still “evolving.”

“The Vice President was saying what the President has said previously – that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights. That's why we stopped defending the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges and support legislation to repeal it. Beyond that, the Vice President was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue, after meeting so many committed couples and families in this countries.”

Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, cheered Biden's remarks and urged Obama to follow suit.

“I've known Vice President Biden since interning for him in the Senate in 1976,” Wolfson said in a statement. “The personal and thoughtful way he has spoken about his coming to support the freedom to marry reflects the same journey that a majority of Americans have now made as they've gotten to know gay families, opened their hearts and changed their minds. President Obama should join the Vice President, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, former Vice Presidents Gore and Cheney, Laura Bush, and so many others in forthright support for the freedom to marry.”