The Walking Dead‘s Daniel Newman has come out as gay in a YouTube video, saying it was “just time.”

But the reason might surprise you. In an emotional YouTube video, Newman says a chance meeting with a girl at a homeless youth center he was volunteering at had changed his mind about being in the closet. The girl had thanked him for helping the LGBT community and after Newman questioned why she was thanking him, she said,

“Because you’re straight.”

Daniel answered,

“I’m not straight.”

Why have you never said that publicly before? You could help change our lives.”

Newman goes on to say,

“It hit me like a gut-punch. It felt like someone knocked the wind out from me. And I realized how important it is in this day and age to be visible – to let people who know you are.“

He said that there was no excuse to hide your sexuality when, as the girl pointed out to him, revealing it could help so many people.

“When you’re accomplishing incredible things and you’re hiding who you are, you are hurting hundreds of millions of people.”

This news comes after Jesus, one of the main characters on the show, also came out as gay. Paul Rovia, played by Tom Payne and better known to the post-apocalyptic band of survivors as Jesus, joined the series last season, but he only made his sexuality clear earlier this month.

Jesus is gay in the original comic book series, which had led fans to question his sexuality ever since the character was written into the show a year ago. The show has featured six LGBT characters over its seven seasons.

(via Pink News)