For any parent, getting through the day in one piece requires some expert juggling between work, the kids, a spouse, and other domestic duties. And for Jere Chang, there’s also tending to her millions of followers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

For the last five years, Chang, known online as the “lesbian Mr. Rogers,” has amassed more than three million followers on these platforms with videos chronicling her balancing act with a mix of family fun, skits about being an educator, and reflections on being queer in the classroom.

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The relatable blend and everywoman quality Chang brings to her online persona gives followers looking for role models “a glimmer of hope,” the Georgia teacher said.

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Shared one follower: “You’re just like a regular person, existing and living, and it gives me hope that I can have a family one day.”

@mschanggifted Reply to @kalliebrown835 #undecided #graduateschool #uga #educationmajor #mschanggifted ♬ original sound – MsChangGifted

Humor is a big part of Chang’s appeal.

“Growing up gay, especially when I did, you had two choices: be sad or be funny, yeah?” she told WABE. “I mean, people come at you. You either got to have it, you either got to clap back at folks and outdo them, or let them get to you.”

Like a lot of shut-ins during the pandemic, Chang turned to TikTok five years ago for social kinship.
“I mean, I’m a mother and a wife, and I definitely had my family, but I was just — I felt disconnected to society, like many of us did.”

By the following year, TikTok had named her one of their LGBTQ+ Trailblazers.

Chang, who holds three degrees for teaching, applied linguistics, and ESOL, manages her online commitments on top of being a full-time schoolteacher for neurodivergent children.

In the classroom, Chang calls herself “a passive activist.”

“I never walk into a class and say, ‘Hey kids, okay, we’re going to sit on the carpet and we’re going to talk about gay,’” she said.

But when her sons — both of whom attend the school where she teaches — come into her classroom, she said she’ll bring up her family, just like any other teacher would.

Said Chang: “You know, I don’t have to be out like ‘Hey, I’m queer. Deal with it,’ but I need to be unapologetically me just to be a role model for my kids.”

@mschanggifted Thanks for the Minecraft LEGO, @LEGO How many people does it take to read cursive? #lego #minecraft #unboxing #momlife #mschanggifted ♬ original sound – MsChangGifted

While her second job as a popular online influencer is important, Chang said her family is her priority.

“I’ll edit during lunch at school, and when I get home, put the phone down, go on a bike ride with my kid, don’t get on the phone, give them the weekends — things like that.”

Of course, documenting her life as a lesbian mom, wife and “passive activist” means there’s crossover between the public and personal. How much she involves her kids is a constant question.

Chang said she often gets comments like “Your kids should have a father,” and she’ll see other LGBTQ+ creators respond online by asking their kids about it. For Chang, that approach is off the table.
 
“No judgment to them, but for me, it’s my fight to fight,” she said. “If my children, when they get older and they become adults, if they want to join that fight with me, absolutely. But I’m not going to put them through that.”

Chang keeps a close eye on the comments and disables anything vaguely negative about her children.

@mschanggifted You only get to be a kid once #snowday #principalsoftiktok #homework #mschanggifted ♬ original sound – MsChangGifted

The life/work crossover extends to Chang’s wife, as well, and it might inspire a “lesbian Mr. Rogers” spinoff. Videos of her wife pranking Chang’s lunches have become popular with her followers.  

In one clip celebrating Chang earning two million followers, her wife makes lunch with two of everything, including hollowed-out oranges with a pair of blueberries inside.

Chang said people want her wife to make more videos, but that she’s “afraid because she’s literally tampering with food.”

“And the last thing she wants to do is show people how to tamper with food,” Chang said with a laugh, “and then it becomes a legal issue, right?”

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