Black LGBTQ Couple Deported From Bali For Doing THIS!
YouTube/Kristen Gray Reading Time: 3 minutes
Kristen Gray, an American travel influencer who posted a viral Twitter thread about moving to Bali is now being deported. The author of Our Bali Life Is Yours tweeted about living in Bali for over a year and gave advice to those who want to move there amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Influencer Kristen Gray Is Deported From Bali After Twitter Thread Goes Viral
Kristen who has been living in Bali with her girlfriend, Saundra Michelle Alexander, was under a visitor-stay permit and originally only planned to stay for six months. The pandemic extended their stay. She encouraged her Twitter followers to move to Bali which has “safety, low cost of living, luxury lifestyle, [and] queer-friendly and Black in Bali community.” She spoke about how her rent is only $400 which for locals is actually quite a lot of money. Gray compared this to her $1300 that she previously paid in Los Angeles.
In one of her now-deleted tweets, she claims that the couple moved to Bali to “stack some bread and elevate our lifestyle.” Gray wrote that she faced a year full of job rejections and was struggling before picking up her life and moving to Bali. But Gray and Alexander’s stay in Bali will be coming to an end. The pair were ordered to fly out of Indonesia as soon as possible. They are barred from entering Indonesia for six months after they are deported.
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The Head of the Bali office for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Jamaruli Manihuruk, put out a statement confirming that Gray violated several immigration laws, including “spreading information that could unsettle the public.”
“The concerned foreign national is suspected to have done business by selling her e-book and putting up consultation fees on traveling to Bali, which means she can be subject to sanctions according to the 2011 Immigration Law,” the statement said.
More specifically, Gray tweeted that Bali is a “queer-friendly” country when many disagreed. In March 2020, lawmakers in Indonesia proposed the “Family Resilience Bill.” The bill would force members of the the LGBTQ+ community to undergo conversion therapy.
Twitter Has Been Denouncing All Of Gray’s Tone-Deaf Tweets
Once Gray’s tweets began circulating, many people spoke out against her. Local members of the LGBTQ community in Bali had very different experiences living on the island. The now-deported influencer has been mentioned on TikTok but several creators who wanted to shed light on the reality they face every day.
Others tweeted their frustrations. “Why can’t americans understand that their 1 US dollar equals to 15.000 Indonesian rupiahs & that’s a whole meal here. 1 cup of your starbucks can feed 3 people. LEARN about your relative wealth/privilege and listen to Balinese locals. we are rightfully mad about Kristen Gray” one person tweeted.
“The reason Kristen Gray thinks Bali is queer-friendly is because a)she’s a foreigner, and b) economic leverage means financially dependent locals won’t say much. If Bali is queer-friendly, then why am I told daily I am diseased and need conversion therapy to be cured?” wrote another.
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“I am not guilty. I have not overstayed my visa. I have not made money in Indonesian rupiah in Indonesia. I put out a statement about LGBT and I am being deported about LGBT” the Bali influencer said in a statement to Balinese press.
