An American who calls herself a "digital nomad" is being deported from Indonesia, after her tweets sparked a social media backlash alleging a lack of cultural awareness and apparent Western privilege. Kristen Gray described the island of Bali as, quote, "LGBT friendly," even though the LGBT community in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, has faced discrimination and a lack of acceptance for years, and sometimes violence. And, in a series of tweets at the weekend, Gray wrote about the perks of her life on the tropical island with her girlfriend. "The island has been amazing because of our elevated lifestyle at a much lower cost of living," she wrote, showing a picture of her light-filled, $400 treehouse. "Being a digital nomad is everything." That sparked a social media backlash. And Bali's law and human rights ministry said Gray might have violated immigration laws by suggesting Bali was "queer friendly", easily accessible durin
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Kristen Antoinette Gray, left, walks with her partner Saundra Michelle Alexander, right, to be tested for the coronavirus at a hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Jan. 20, 2021. | Credit: Firdia Lisnawati/AP/Shutterstock
An American travel influencer who spent 2020 in Bali and went viral for a Twitter thread encouraging others to move to the Indonesian island is now being deported, multiple outlets report.
Kristen Gray, a 28-year-old graphic designer, and her girlfriend Saundra Alexander, 30, are, as of Wednesday morning, awaiting a flight back to the United States while in immigration detention, according to the Associated Press. Gray s viral Twitter thread caught the attention of local government, who claim she was carrying out business endeavors in Bali without the correct visa to do so.
Kristen Gray and Saundra Alexander. (YouTube/Love Saundra)
Kristen Antoinette Gray will be deported from Bali, Indonesia, after promoting the island as a cheap, LGBT-friendly destination for people to relocate to in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Travel influencer and California native Kristen Gray and her girlfriend Saundra Alexander moved to the south-east Asian country in 2019 as so-called “digital nomads” after booking one-way flights.
But a backlash brewed after Gray promoted the pair’s $30 e-book,
Our Bali Life Is Yours, in a Twitter thread posted Saturday (16 January).
She deemed the island “queer-friendly”, among tweets boasting she is enjoying an “elevated lifestyle” and offering travel advice to foreigners,
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A US national living in Bali is at the center of a whirlwind of controversy after making a series of posts on social media that many Indonesians and others found offensive and has prompted Immigration authorities to commence an intensive search for the woman’s whereabouts.
As reported by
BeritaBali.com, NusaBali.com, and several national news outlets – Kirsten Gray insisted on boasting to her global readership via some 20 separate tweets detailing her life since arriving in Bali in 2019.
Gray related how she could not find employment in the USA, where living costs are relatively high, she resolved her girlfriend to uproot and relocate to Bali. Arriving in Bali on a tourist visa, she and her partner originally planned to spend six months in Bali. The