this is "nightline." tonight, when they see us. the new dramatic retelling of the now vacated convictions of five new york city teens in the central park jogger's rape case. a former head of the sex crimes unit for the portrayal of her character. plus. strike a pose. rolling out the grand breaking drama's new season, the cast of transgender actors shaking up culture with their to

darkish us in t dark issue in the lgbtq community.

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over the head of the former sex crimes unit for her portrayal on the show, and she's now publicly firing back. >> they made us lie. right? >> reporter: a crucial turning point captured in the new netflix mini series "when they see us." >> police officers! >> reporter: of this role and retelling of the infamous retelling of the central park five. >> the reason the case became such a sensation is pause becau was a true intersection of really toxic issues. racial bias, sexual assault and the rise of the tabloid media. >> reporter: the convictions were vacated in what has become a permanent stain on the justice system. although they were never

exonerated some argue the public perception around them should change. >> the language around exonerated five is far more powerful and transformative than the central park five. when we hear central park five we hear crime, trauma, violence whchlts we hear exonerated five we move the spotlight off the kids and onto a system. >> reporter: the netflix series, executive produced by oprah winfrey, sparking renewed discussion about the polarizing case and how authorities handled it. especially the woman in charge of the city's sex crimes unit, portrayed by felicity huffman in the series. >> this is not business as usual. the press is crawling all over this. no kid gloves here. these are not kids. they raped this woman. >> reporter: the real linda fairstein speaking out, calling it an outright fabrication that

defames her. duber nay tweeting out, expected and typical, onward. it portrays her as determined to pursue conviction at all costs. >> i think there's little doubt hot villain is. i would argue it's linda. >> reporter: she agrees with the boys' convictions being vacated, but she says they were guilty of other crimes which should not have been cleared. she says the film attempts to portray me as an overzealous prosecutor and a bigot. none of this is true. she added that she never made any of the comments the screenwriter attributes to me. ms. duverneay does not define me and the film does not speak the truth. a serial rapist confessed to the

rape alone. at the time of his confession, reyes was already behind bars for another horrific rape. did you attack the central park jogger? >> yeah, i did. >> reporter: did you rape her? >> yeah. >> reporter: did you leave her for dead? >> i thought i left her for dead. >> reporter: a dna test found he was a perfect match, something prosecutors never had from the five teenaged boys. >> you have people who are bewildered that the system could be so flawed that they could arrest, charge and convict five people. and nationally, the the the thee is at best flawed and at worst working in such a way that the vulnerable get criminalized whether they did it or not. >> reporter: reyes had raped another woman in central park

two days before meile. he insists he did the crime alone. >> at the right-hand side, i saw a piece of branch. i struck her over the head with the branch and she fell forward. i grabbed her to drag her inside the bushes. as i dragged ner theher in ther remember i took off her clothes. >> reporter: the 2012 pbs documentary, the "central park five" examines the case for the first time from the men's perspective. >> i thought they might take us to the back of the precinct and kill us. >> reporter: fairstein took issue with pbs's portrayal. >> that film was made while we had the equivalent of a gag order from a judge. we could not speak publicly. the dater of the film maker had worked for the legal team of the five. so i didn't think we'd get a fair hearing.

>> reporter: fairstein became a successful novelist and celebrated advocate for sexual assault survivors. >> final jeopardy. >> reporter: but in the wake of netflix's take on the case, fairstein's life and leg i have bei legacy are being called into question. in the days since the netflix series debuted, social media has taken her to task with the #cancellindafairstein, and online petitions have demanded her resignations, even a request to prosecutor her. she has resigned from the boards of several organizations and has been dropped by her publisher. she declined an interview request from abc news. we were told the case has long been one duverneay wanted to

analyze. >> the central park five case was a case we used to examine the myth of criminality. >> you're being lied to. it's duvernay's imaginary version of linda fairstein. >> reporter: some police involved in the case are defending fairstein, including eric reynolds. >> it's appalling. most people who are against her, they hate her, they don't know the facts of the case. >> reporter: the jogger, meile said it's possible reyes did not act alone. >> there is medical evidence to support that more than one person was responsible for the attack on me. >> in the wake of the prosecutors dropping the charges against all of them, the police commissioned an independent report to evaluate the police's

conduct. and that report concluded that it was still very likely that they attacked these other people in the park and that maybe they were even involved in the attack on the jogger. >> reporter: while the report concluded that police had not engaged in any misconduct in obtaining the confessions, the men continue to maintain that they were coerced into confessing and that they are innocent of all crime. >> the backlash that linda fairstein has received is fair. we don't want to isolate or scapegoat her. the problem with that narrative is it makes us believe if we could just get rid of that bad apple, or if the bad apple had never existed we would be fine. but it's not a bad apple, it's a spoiled system. >> reporter: as the public's fascination with the case continues the men at the center of the saga have sat down with

oprah winfrey in an interview to air this week on netflix. >> watching their is is painful necessary. >> there will never be closure in the central park five case. no amount of money can bring back the years that those boys lost, the innocence that was taken from them. and you have five boys who are attempting to piece together the shards and fragments of their lives after one of the most horrific injustices in american history. coming up next, diving into the world of underground ballroom and the stars breaking barriers with their truth. we call it the mother standard of care. it's how we care for our cancer patients- like job. when he was diagnosed with cancer, his team at ctca created a personalized care plan to treat his cancer and side effects. so job could continue to work and stay strong for his family. this is how we inspire hope.

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with pride month in full swing, the ground-breaking show "pose" is serving up looks and truth. featuring the largest cast of transgender actors. tonight, speaking out about breaking barriers with their unflinching story line. >> the world is singing about a story line we created. >> everything is about to change. >> reporter: and the category is historic. boundary pushing. >> i can't even trust >> reporter: iconic television. >> it is your dream. >> reporter: fx's acclaim acclaimed series "pose."

i sat down with the team in front of a live studio audience, part of abc's pride speaker series. "pose" made history with the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles. the series onscreen at times influenced by lived experiences. >> coming here from the caribbean and realizing that i didn't have a safe space in the place that i called home was very difficult. but coming here and being a part of ballroom and being a part of all of this has helped me to realize that we have to work hard in the things that we want. i dropped out of school because bullying was really heavy, and i just couldn't focus on my work, because i just, you know, i wouldn't be able to use the restroom without a security guard following me in the bathroom. but, you know, bullying, a lot

of my life has shaped who i am, and it's made me a much stronger person, and survival has made me brave. >> reporter: "pose", once again delving into the nuance and ignored room of the ballroom scene in the '80s and '90s. >> turn. kick. >> reporter: fusing glamour and heartbreak and taking on darkish us in the lgbt q plus community, from homelessness to violence to hiv. >> it's moments like these that make your life flash right before you. crazy thing is, it's not my life i'm seeing right now. >> it's basically about community. it's about finding a place for people who don't feel like they have a place outside of their homes that they've been kicked out of. i guess it's something that a lot of kids search for in the lgbt community when they're ostracized a lot.

>> the category is, royalty. >> reporter: a passion project for co-creator steven canals, who teamed up with the force behind shows like "gee". the assassination of gianni versace and american horror storer story. what made you be unafraid to tell these stories? >> in truth i didn't now if the audience would be ready for it. i think that's a large part of why it took so long to get this project off the ground, why did required someone who is a true disrupter like ryan murphy to say this story deserves to be told. >> how does it feel to be directed by janet? >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the first transwoman of color to write, direct and produce for a television series. while the series explores america's past, some argue the

themes are especially present in this moment. trans rights seeming to be rolled back by the trump administration, rates of suicide and violence in the community . >> trans-gender woman who was beaten. >> the body of shanell lindsey was pulled from white rock lake. >> reporter: the murders of two trans women a reminder. >> a lot of stuff that happened in 1987 is happening today in 2019. there are a lot of individuals who are at the helm of death and violence. i think shows like "pose" releases and leverages us, gives us hope and a lens into our lives as human beings. we bleed, we hurt. >> that's my [ applause ] >> at present, the average life expectancy for a trans woman of

color is 35 years old. so a show like "pose" becomes critically important in showing that the trans community deserves love and deserves respect. we have to work together to keep them safe. >> reporter: offscreen the series and its stars helping their community be seen in the mainstream. india moore, elle's first-ever trans cover star. billy porter turning heads at the oscars. the cast wowing at this year's met gala. here are you white hot spotlight, and yet there has been a lot of cultural appropriation over the years. you look at madonna's "vogue" ♪ let your body move to the music ♪ >> let's be really clear about something. when you are part of a community fighting to survive and finding your own love within self and

creating your own space and someone like madonna comes along and says, let me put you out there, that is acknowledgement. appropriation is when you come into our community and you take from us. >> reporter: hmm. >> and you d acknowledge but when you uplift in that way. it's about uplifting and empowering. >> reporter: and with june's pride month in full swing we couldn't let them leave without one more question. what does pride mean to you, each of you. let's start, steven, with you. >> i think for me, pride is about walking unapology etically in your truth. >> when i think of pride i think about systemic preregular. it's loving yourself when the world says you're not allowed to exist. >> those of us who have the privilege of being able to be visible have to fight for those that do not have that same

privilege. [ applause ] >> pride is us, the pillars or the totem poles that the younger generation can either rest upon and look up to and see the history that has been fought for so long, and if they ever so tire they can look up and see how strong that pillar is, for them to keep going. >> reporter: brilliant, brilliant. thank you guys so much. you can catch "pose" on fx now. up next, the usa women's soccer team breaking records. she's doing it again. (vo) no cover up spray here... it's the irresistibly fresh scent of febreze air effects. cheaper aerosols can cover up odors, burying the smell in a flowery fog. switch to febreze air effects! febreze eliminates even the toughest odors from the air. and it uses an all-natural propellant to leave behind a pleasant scent you'll love. use anywhere odors can spread.

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finally, making history in a rousing rout for team usa. the u.s. women's national soccer team's record-setting victory today, igniting the world cup pitch. blowing away the competition, thailand, in the opening match, 13-0, scoring the largest victory ever in the world cup. alex morgan with five goals on herthonest continues as the

defending champions eye their next title. let's go! team usa. that's "nightline." you can always score full episodes on hulu. good night, america.