Dear Prudence,
My older brother “Sean” recently came out to our family. It wasn’t really necessary, though, since we already knew. Not in an “Oh, we always knew” sort of way, but because he already came out to us when he was 17, nearly a decade ago. He had a boyfriend and everything at the time. Some of the family took it well and some didn’t, but eventually it all came together. Then he went away to college, and while he didn’t have anyone serious, I know he dated. Then last week he turned up on Sunday with his new boyfriend to a family dinner and “came out” to us all. Again. We mostly said we’d already known, and he got annoyed and said this had been difficult for him. He “wanted us to take it seriously.” So we kind of went along with it because we didn’t want to call him out in front of his boyfriend. My mom says to just ignore it, but I feel like I should talk to Sean about this. It’s weird, and if there’s something bothering him I’d like to know. I just don’t know how to broach it or what questions to ask.
—Come Again