Man behind 'Gay girl in Damascus' blog tries it on again as an Arab woman

The 40-year-old American man, who recently confessed to be the person behind "A Gay Girl in Damascus" blog, has reportedly created another fake persona. Tom MacMaster, who is living in Scotland, is believed to have created another fake identity- once again an Arab woman, in order to defend himself online, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. The guise was exposed when others commenting on the Mondoweiss blog site noted that the IP address of the woman named Miriam Umm Ibni was the same as that used by MacMaster. In the comment, Ibni defends MacMaster against comparisons with Middle East commentator Dan Littauer. "MacMaster, misguided though he may have been in his actions, did highlight real issues and real concerns about pinkwashing, the right of return, the occupation of the Golan, and the denial of Arab humanity in the west," he wrote. "He misguidedly placed himself in the guise of an Arab woman but he did so from real compassion," he added. However, a subsequent post said that the person pretending to be Miriam Umm Ibni is actually Tom MacMaster pretending to be an Arab woman, again. The poster then goes on to point out that the IP address used by Ibni is the same as that used by MacMaster. MacMaster wrote blogs under the name Amina Arraf and drew attention with his passionate writings about the Syrian government's crackdown on Arab Spring protesters. He was outed after it was revealed that the picture of Arraf on the blog was actually taken from the Facebook page of a British woman. MacMaster then wrote an apology on his blog confessing that the entire thing was a hoax.