"Gay Girl in Damascus" Actually An American Dude In Edinburgh

Last week, the blogosphere reacted with concern over the alleged kidnapping of Amina Araff, “an out lesbian blogger who wrote about her daily life in Damascus, Syria.

According to a post on her eponymous blog dated June 6, Amina was kidnapped by strangers as she ran errands. Petitions went up around the internet. People grew concerned.

But then, suspicion grew that Amina may not be a real blogger at all. As we reported earlier this week, Amina’s story didn’t hold up, and none of the updates on Amina’s blog (allegedly posted by relatives) could be corroborated by Syrian media.

Today, the speculation is over, as it turns out a Gay Girl in Damascus is actually a guy named Tom MacMaster who lives in ~~Istanbul, Turkey~~ Edinburgh. In a post MacMaster wrote as an apology to his readers,

I never expected this level of attention. While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone — I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

I only hope that people pay as much attention to the people of the Middle East and their struggles in thıs year of revolutions. The events there are beıng shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.

He never thought the blog would get attention, but he wanted to use it to bring attention to problems in the Middle East? It always helps your case when you contradict yourself within the first 100 words.

That, my friends, is what I call a non-apology, a self-righteous justification for, quite frankly, reprehensible behavior. What about the fact that real time and energy was expended on trying to locate “Amina?” What about the fact that those resources, that time and energy, would have been better spent on real problems in the Middle East? What about the real pain and worry that people felt about a non-real person getting his jollies by writing a fake blog?

Show’s over, folks. Nothing to see here. Just another jerk lying about themselves on the internet.