CONFIRMED: Syrian “gay girl” kidnapping, blog a hoax!

A new entry Sunday in a blog purportedly by a lesbian Syrian-American living in Damascus asserted that the entire saga was a hoax, supposedly written by a man. The post, which came days after an entry saying the blogger had been arrested, was signed by “Tom MacMaster” in Istanbul, Turkey, according 365gay.com.

In it, the author says the narrative was fictional but insists it “created an important voice for issues I feel strongly about.”

It says the author never expected so much attention.

On Tuesday, a blog post at the same site, “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” supposedly written by the woman’s cousin, said she had been detained in Damascus after weeks on the run.

The story unraveled quickly after a woman in Britain said the photos on the Facebook account of the blogger known as Amina Arraf were actually of her. The Associated Press reported her disappearance, confirmed by an activist in Damascus, but reporters in Virginia then could find no trace of Arraf or her family.