Coco Peru on Being Bullied

Coco Peru, the drag alter ego of performer Clinton Leupp, shared his personal stories of bullying on his Facebook page in an effort to discourage gay teens from considering suicide.

Leupp grew up as an effeminate child in the Bronx and was teased mercilessly. To keep his sanity, Leupp created an elaborate fantasy world where he conquered his bullies by dropping them out the windows of his school. But Leupp reminds kids that the difficulties of adolescence fade away, eventually.

In the open letter, Leupp writes, "I think back to those days when I was so frozen with fears and here I now sit in my backyard, beside my pool, a drag queen who has traveled all over the world, a gay man who wasn't doomed to spend his life alone but a gay man who married his Spanish husband of 15 years in Spain, an uncle who makes his nieces and nephews laugh, a friend who has many close friends that he loves having over for dinner, a son who came out to his parents and found out that he was loved ... unconditionally. All the wasted time!"

Read the letter here.