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Of all the young revolutionaries in Syria during the Arab Spring, Amina is different. An out lesbian in a country where homosexuality is illegal, she bravely documents her life on the blog Gay Girl in Damascus. Her candid posts attract readers from around the world, and soon she has a wide, ardent following. But then a post appears saying Amina has been abducted. Her fans mobilize, desperate to track down and save their fearless heroine. What they find shocks them. Journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what actually happened to the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus in this 6-part series. The result is a twisted yarn that spans the globe and challenges our thinking on love, politics and identity in cyberspace. Listeners can access every episode for free weekly on Wednesdays (6 episodes total). If you want early, ad-free access, visit apple.co/cbcstories.
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The fallout from the revelation about Amina — and others like her — continue to ripple across the world. A furious Sandra wants closure. Danny, living in Damascus, faces a life-threatening decision. And the blog’s loyal readers are left with one persistent question — why?
The shocking truth about Amina finally comes out. Sandra is devastated as the enormity of her new reality starts to sink in. Members of the international media are also scrambling to update their coverage. In Istanbul, Turkish reporter Irem Koker hatches a plan to confront the real Amina.
As forces around the internet unite to try to find Amina, more doubts begin to pile up. Especially when it's revealed that the photos on Gay Girl in Damascus, of a beautiful young woman with chin-length brown hair, belong to another woman entirely.
The unthinkable has finally happened. Amina has been taken by the regime and is missing. In Montreal, Sandra is determined to pull on every lever possible to find Amina. Other journalists and locals are doing the same before it’s too late.
As the conflict in Syria escalates, Sandra begins to worry for her girlfriend Amina’s safety. Amina’s blog has grown in notoriety, attracting the interest of Western media like The Guardian and NPR. But as a newly-minted media darling, Amina is under added surveillance and increasingly in danger.
It's 2011, and the Arab Spring is being documented by a heady mixture of up-to-the-minute citizen reporting, tweeting and blogging. One particular voice begins to stand out — the Gay Girl in Damascus — Amina Arraf. On her blog, Amina describes herself as an out lesbian with a passion for human rights and her homeland. Amina’s evocative writing describes her everyday life, the occasional sexy anecdote and the stirring rebellion around her. It wins her adoring fans from around the world. And also leads Sandra, a woman in far away Montreal, to fall in love.
It’s the dawn of the Arab Spring and Amina is a revolutionary blogger in Syria, fighting not just for justice but for gay liberation. When she’s snatched off the streets of Damascus, her followers frantically mobilize to save her. In this six-part series, journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what happened to Amina and the chain of events that sent shockwaves around the world. Launching Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.
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