When Tarik Jenkins began filming Siesta Key, he decided he wasn’t going to hold anything back — including, first and foremost, his sexuality.

The 23-year-old was recently introduced to this season of the MTV reality show as an old friend of cast member Madisson Hausberg. He’s loyal, and he says it like it is — and on Monday night’s episode, he reveals something highly personal about himself: He still hasn’t told his family that he’s gay. (Check out PEOPLE’s exclusive sneak peek at the scene, above.)

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PEOPLE caught up with Jenkins ahead of the episode, and he opened up about how he hopes his decision to come out on TV and live his truth will inspire others to do the same.

“[When I was about to start filming the show], my mind wasn’t even thinking that my sexuality was going to be put out there, like, everywhere,” says Jenkins, who graduated from Florida International University last year with a computer science degree and is currently working in Tampa for a tech company.

After shooting his first few scenes, Jenkins says the realization that he would be officially coming out started to hit him — and he decided to seize the opportunity.

“I [realized] there’s no one in the LGBT community [in Siesta Key] that wants to be the voice for all of us,” he says. “And I’ve gone through so much in my lifetime, so I told myself I could actually help people. I could be the voice for all these high school kids here, who are going through stuff.”

“I just want to help people who have to go through the things that I’ve gone through my entire life,” he adds. “I want to them to come out stronger than I have, and not be afraid to show the world who they are.”

Image zoom Tarik Jenkins and his dog, Arya Stark Courtesy Tarik Jenkins

Jenkins, who was raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household, says he started discovering his sexual preferences in middle school — around the same time he decided to stop going to the Kingdom Hall, a house of worship used by Jehovah’s Witnesses for their religious services, with his family.

“I just felt like I could never tell my parents [that I’m gay] because I knew the aftermath that would follow,” he says. “My cousin came out when he was around 19, and he was banned from the Hall. My grandma wasn’t allowed to talk to him, because she was high up in the church and has been with the religion her whole life.”

“With my parents, my mom and I were best friends,” he says. “I love her so much, and I just didn’t want to taint that relationship.”

When he moved to Miami for college, Jenkins stopped trying to hide his sexuality on social media and with friends — but he still didn’t have a conversation about it with his family.

“Any gay man, bi man, or any other type of sexuality — there’s a point in your life where you have to have that conversation with your parents,” he says. “Well, maybe some don’t have to — their parents just accept them for who they are. But for me, that would have been the most awkward situation I’ve ever had in my entire life. So I felt that me going on the show kind of exempted me from having to have that conversation.”

“I could kill two birds with one stone: I could come out to my entire family, and I could come out to all my friends, all around the world,” he says. “And then I could just see what the aftermath of that would be.”

Today, Jenkins says he still hasn’t spoken to his parents or his three brothers about his sexuality, and he’s doubtful that they’re even watching the show.

“I’ve never confronted my dad about it. My mom and I — I’m trying to make it work, because she’s my mom and I love her more than anything in the world,” he says. “But it’s just so hard when you see how uncomfortable it makes them. My whole family dynamic is really weird. I wish I could say I have that TV show family where everybody loves each other.”

“I’ve felt that the more I grow up, and the more I don’t get accepted by certain people, the more I get away from it as soon as possible — so maybe we push each other away,” he adds. “I’m kind of scared that it’s just going to get worse from there, but I don’t want it to.”

On Monday’s episode, Jenkins also touches on a recent tragedy in his life: He lost a loved one in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, which claimed 49 lives on June 12, 2016.

“That was a very, very dark time,” he says. “He was very special and dear to me. I personally don’t believe in karma and all those other crazy things, but I believe there’s one person in the world that you meet, and both of your souls just mesh together and everything is right. Everything is just right. And that was me and him.”

“I think that my love life may be tainted by that tragedy,” he admits. “I want to move on from it. People have tried to help me move on. But I have yet to click with anyone.”