By Daniel Nassar, 13.6.2011

Here I am; standing face to face with my father, yet again, shouting with all the air I have left in my lungs; it’s not another fight about my homosexuality, my decision to live on my own, my refusal to go on one more family dinner to meet the girl that would bring me back from my sinful ways, his religious views over homosexuality, his dreams of seeing my children or even my bad influence on my sisters. It’s a fight about Amina.

Amina, who turned out to be one Tom MacMaster posting blogs from Turkey while smoking Narjillah, rather than a sweet little lesbian girl kidnapped by unidentified persons and facing an unimaginable future, was the reason behind that fight between my father and I. My father, who I came out as a gay man to when I was a teenager, was telling me how homosexuals are ruining the country even more and causing the centuries-long peace in the region to shutter; how homosexuals are the new devils bringing down our beautiful country; How Amina is another one of these foreign influences that are causing more problems in Syria than fixing it. I never thought I would say this, but my father was right about the latter.

The story is widely known by now: the fictional character of Amina gain media momentum when she told the story of her father shaming state security personas into not arresting his daughter. The story, unbelievable to anyone who knows Syria well enough; became an internet sensation and the holy trio of sex, religion and politics in it made it a dish hard to refuse by foreign media. Many foreign outlets wrote stories about Amina, and many of them attached a picture of hers to the stories.

Later on, the story of Amina went into a serious development; a new character is introduced; a cousin who tells the horrifying details of Amina supposed arrest in the streets of Damascus; it was an extremely detailed story enhanced with descriptions and semi-poetic feel to it. While most people on Twitter and in news outlets were ragging over the disappearance of the Gay Girl in Damascus; some were wondering if any of this is true. Media attention and many journalists with great background at debunking such stories, including famed reporter Andy Carvin, put their effort together to find a person; one single person who actually talked to Amina on the phone or saw her in person.

To make a long story short; Amina turned out to be a guy called Tom MacMaster; who is not a woman, not a lesbian, not in Syria and not even Syria. Mr. MacMaster wrote an apology on the blog of the fictional character of Amina revealing his identity and claiming that he do not believe that he “harmed anyone” adding that he feels that he has “created an important voice for issues” that he feels strongly about.

Let me explain the multiple harms Mr. MacMaster and his fictional blog enforced upon the LGBT community in Syria and the Arab blogging community in general.

On one side; you forced the LGBT community into the current political game in the region; a game that the small and weak LGBT community in Syria cannot handle; authorities cracking down on whomever they believe is attacking the Syrian regime are now adding the LGBT community to the circle of possible threats; LGBT people on the ground, whether they are politically active or not, are now in grave danger that they might be seen as Amina; reality might imitate the ‘art’, and the fictional story of Amina’s arrest might happen in real life to an LGBT activist in Syria who did nothing wrong other than being homosexual. This fear has been the cause of a personal damage to me and to other LGBT activists here: For years, I have been on Twitter with my real name and my real picture; tweeting proudly about LGBT rights in the region specially and around the world generally; since the beginning of this whole Amina parade; in fears of being exposed, more than I already am, I changed both my avatar and my handle’s name.

On another side: your fabricated story added to the stigma already existing in the minds of the society members of Syria that homosexuals are sinful, lying, dishonest characters. My father and many others are traditional people who do not need another reason to hate homosexuals. Granted, most of the news outlets that cared about Amina’s story were in English; but word goes around and people know. The stunt of Mr. MacMaster added salt to the wounds in the struggle for LGBT rights in the region. The character of Amina will never be forgotten by everyone heard about it; no one in the society will care if she was real or fictional; they will always see her as a sign that all homosexuals are dishonest fabricators and opportunity predators. This blog single-handedly managed to put another barrier between the mainstream society of Syria and the LGBT community in the country.

Finally; to be able to publish this story, and to be quoted on other stories over the past couple of days, editors from across the globe needed to talk to me; to verify if I’m a real person or just another fake character like Amina; the trust between foreign media and those activists, who are needing any support they can get to continue their brave struggle, is gone forever because of Amina. Also, world citizens, those who believe in higher values like peace, humanity and equality, are not going to take the story of the next arrest in the region seriously; they would think it’s just another Amina happening again.

The real people in the LGBT community in this region are damaged because of you, Mr. MacMaster; your practical joke is not harmless; it actual is very harmful. Tomorrow, if the last word someone manages to tweet before they disappear forever is “I’m arrested”; I want you to remember that you caused all of this with each and every doubtful mention that tweet gets.

My mother cried when she heard of Amina; she was worried about me; and I can assure you; all of your apologies means nothing to me compared to my mother’s tears; Your apology is not accepted; your words are as meaningless the time you spent writing them.