Just a girl in need for advice. Hopefully from people that know better than I do.

I started seeing this boy over a year ago, and my parents ( mainly my mom) disliked him due to her prejudice against Mexicans and also because we have a 2.5 year age difference- I am 17 and he is 19 turning 20.. he is a very good guy, he treats me well, respects me in every way, and protects me whenever he feels concerned about my/our safety at parties etc. Because of my parents’ strict views on him I was to scared to bring him home, which caused sneaking around/ sneaking out and later led to me getting into a lot of trouble and not being able to talk to him for a while. We rekindled in December and a friends’ house and since then we have been “together” even while he was in college. We talked constantly and although it sounds naive, I am confident in him and his faithfulness towards me ( I don’t see why he would lie since we didn’t define the relationship until he got home for the summer and before we got into trouble we were already very close. It has been 7 months since that day in December and my parents still do not know. They’ve seen that we talk on social media but have not brought it up. He and I have decided it is time to tell my parents.. neither of us want to continue sneaking around, but I also don’t think he knows that my parents have always been incredibly strict on letting me go on dates alone and will be even more because it is him. I know this boy, and I know he means well and I know his family and I know that he is good. I just don’t know how to tell my parents, or even if i should.. would it be better to just stop disrespecting their opinion? I love him so this is very hard for me, and any advice at all would be so helpful.