American graphic designer Kristen Antoinette Gray, center, her partner Saundra Michelle Alexander, right, and lawyer Erwin Siregar arrive at the local immigration office for questioning, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on Jan. 19. (AP Photo)
DENPASAR, Indonesia An American graphic designer is being deported from the Indonesian resort island of Bali over her viral tweets that celebrated it as a low-cost, queer-friendly place for foreigners to live.
Kristen Antoinette Gray arrived in Bali in January 2020 and wound up staying through the coronavirus pandemic. Her posts on Twitter, including comparisons between Bali and Los Angeles and links to buy her e-book, began going viral in Indonesia on Sunday.
“I am not guilty. I have not overstayed my (tourist) visa. I am not making money in Indonesian rupiah. I put out a statement about LGBT and I am deported because of LGBT.”
American who enthused Bali was queer-friendly being deported
By FIRDIA LISNAWATIJanuary 20, 2021 GMT
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) An American graphic designer is being deported from the Indonesian resort island of Bali over her viral tweets that celebrated it as a low-cost, queer-friendly place for foreigners to live.
Kristen Antoinette Gray arrived in Bali in January 2020 and wound up staying through the coronavirus pandemic. Her posts on Twitter, including comparisons between Bali and Los Angeles and links to buy her e-book, began going viral in Indonesia on Sunday.
“This island has been amazing because of our elevated lifestyle at much lower cost of living. I was paying $1,300 for my LA studio. Now I have a treehouse for $400,” one of Gray’s posts on Twitter said.
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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.