♪ ♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, jail convicted of staging a hoax. reporting a false hate crime. the actor, [ tanunretent. plus florida's, so-called don't say gay bill. some say it misses the point. >> it is frustrating to see all the other problems that are not getting solved, because we're distracted. >> families worry about how it might impact their children. >> our families exist. we're not going in hiding

because of this bill. >> "nightline" will be right back.

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days for a case that has stoked now. smollett never showing any remorse. here's abc's alex perez. >> reporter: today, in a chicago courtroom, the three-year-long legal saga of actor jussie smollett came to an explosive end. >> i'm not suicidal! i am not suicidal, and i am innocent! >> reporter: a defiant smollett shouting as he was led out, after being sentenced to 30 months probation, with the first 150 days to be served as chicago's notorious cook county jail, where he's spending his first night. >> you put the noose around your own neck. >> reporter: smollett, who was convicted of five counts of felony disorderly conduct for making a false report that he

have the victim of a hate crime, could have faced up to three years in prison per count. >> you haven't stopped lying. that's where you're here today. >> i was shocked and surprised. jailtime for falsely reporting a crime is not something you see in the criminal justice system. >> reporter: before the sentence was handed down, a stream of supporters, who one by one spoke of smollett's strong character. >> he is a very charismatic, loving, caring young man. i think the world of him. >> i come to ask leniency when you sentence my brother. in my opinion, he's completely innocent. >> reporter: that plea, moving the entertainer to tears. celebrities like samuel l. jackson and reverend jesse jackson, writing the judge asking for leniency. >> in god's name, please save

this young man. jussie smollett is worth the risk and investment. >> jussie has no prior felony convictions. he has a history of community service, and charitable giving, of his time, talent, and treasure. >> reporter: but judge james lynn had little mercy, eviscerating smollett, calling him narcissistic and arrogant. >> you wanted to make yourself more famous, and for a while it worked. everybody was talking about you, the lights were on you. you were throwing a national pity party for yourself. you turned your life upside down by your miscontact and shenanigans. you destroyed your life as you knew it, and there's nothing any judge can do to you compared to the damage you have done to yourself. >> reporter: and the premeditation to the crime, a mitigating factor. >> you wrote a script that involved words, you're going to encounter me on the street, yell

out words, hit me, beat me up, put bleach on me. >> reporter: the judge ordering smollett to repay the city of chicago $120,000 spent on investigating what they had believed was a gruesome hate crime. and an additional $25,000 fine after learning his fate, smollett emphatically maintaining his innocence. >> okay. >> i am not suicidal. i am innocent. >> jussie smollett's final words, i am not suicidal, as he is almost giving a soliloquy to the court. he wants to make it clear if something does happen to him, it's not a jeffrey epstein situation. >> reporter: smollett claimed he was attacked while walking home in chicago at 2:00 a.m. in january of 2019. the actor, who is openly gay, telling police two men physically attacked him, hurling racist and homophobic slurs. he also claimed they poured

bleach on him and attempted to tie a rope around his neck. >> reporter: smollett describing that moment to abc news. >> i see the attacker, masked, and he said, this is maga country, [ bleep ] and punches me right in the face. so i punched the [ bleep ] back. and then we started tussling. there was a second person involved, who was kicking me in my back, and then it just stopped. and they ran off. it felt like minutes, but it was probably like 30 seconds, honestly. i can't tell you honestly. i noticed the rope around my neck and i started screaming and i said they put a [ bleep ] rope around my neck. >> reporter: at the time "empire" castmates rallied around the actor.

tributes and outrage, calling for justice, pouring in on social media. "empire" co-creator lee daniels showing his support in this instagram video. >> you didn't deserve, nor anybody deserves, to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach thrown on you. >> reporter: stars like viola davis, john legend and carrie washington tweeting their support at the time. on february 16, police identified two suspects, brothers suspecting them of the attack. but three weeks later, smollett's story began to unravel when police grew suspicious. >> from the very beginning, we had some questions about it. >> of course, those investigators unraveled more and more of this. it came to charges against jussie smollett, saying that he had made all of this up. >> reporter: then, a shocking twist as smollett is accused of

hiring the brothers to stage the assault, paying them $3500 to carry out the scheme. phone records revealing smollett knew the brothers and talked extensively with them before and after the attack. >> he wanted them to attack him but not hurt him badly. >> reporter: the scratches and bruises was most likely self-inflicted. >> you picked out the actors. this was planned. this was premeditated. they idolized you and would have done anything for you, and you chose them because you knew that you could trust them. that they were loyal to you. >> one of the major sticking points of jussie smollett and why he ended up getting jailtime is his lack of remorse. a reason why the judge went down the route of jail time rather than pro-boibationprobation. >> reporter: the judge making it clear that hate crimes will be taken seriously. and those who lie about them

will face stiff punishment. >> there are people who are actual genuine victims of hate crimes that you did damage to. i don't know how this is going to impact other people, if they will be hesitant to come forward because they think they will be accused of acting like you and doing a stunt like you pulled here. up next, florida's controversial new education bill, dubbed "don't say gay" by critics. we hear from both sides in the debate. music] [inspirational soul music] [inspirational soul music] [inspirational soul music] better skin from your body wash?

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the controversy over

florida's so-called don't say gay bill intensifying. critics, including many students, have taken to the streets, claiming the bill would harm the lbgtq community. but proponents say, that's just not the case. >> yeah, we're going to get you one. >> reporter: it's one of the simple joys of parenting. picking your child up from school and walking home. for the skinner family, 4-year-old charlotte and her two dads, ben and aaron, life here in florida is ordinary, happy. >> we've gotten these neighbors that love our family and love our kid. she's got a normal life. school and playground and birthday parties on the weekends and soccer on the weekends. >> reporter: but now, they worry a new law passed in florida could up end their family life. >> we're very worried that our daughter's first experience in public school is going to be her not being able to talk about her family and not being able to talk about what she did on the

weekends with her dads. >> reporter: some teachers are worried about what might happen in the classroom. >> our concern is that teachers would feel like they would have to ignore children that want to talk about their lbgtq family or that they might get in trouble for answering children's natural questions about, you know, about human relationships. >> reporter: what they're concerned about, the parental rights in education bill, which bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation orienter identity from kinder garten through grade three. and it would allow school the cool system. the governor has indicated he will sign it into law. >> we're going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into the curriculum. >> we're not going in hiding

because of this bill. our families exist. these children need to learn about that. >> reporter: ben and aaron, two married in 2015, always knew they wanted to be parents. the video of them meeting charlotte for the first time went viral. now they worry the law could cast a shadow on their daughter's future. >> i feel like we've made huge steps forward, but this bill is a bunch of steps back. and that was not anything we were ever expecting. >> reporter: but supporters say it doesn't ban conversations about sexual conversation, only for formal lessons. >> this has been called don't say gay bill. no one is limiting discussion. >> reporter: sponsors in the house and the senate responding to the backlash. >> the bill, all it does is state what -- talks about what is appropriate in the classroom to teach, and then it talks about the fact that the parent has the right to be engaged in

the education of their children. >> i'm not doing this because i hate anybody. i'm not trying to demonize anybody. i'm not trying to negate the values of teachers. i'm just trying to come back to center point. parents must be in charge. >> i don't believe that the bill is anti-gay at all. i think it's pro parent. we know, we have members who are parents who are gay. parental rights are not political issues. >> reporter: conservative groups have been advocating for more parental control over school curriculum. >> we believe parents should be involved in every facet of their children's education and we are helping to guard their childhood innocence. that is important, and we support those efforts by lawmakers. >> reporter: at a florida senate hearing, the divide was apparent. >> it takes out the words that target a minority group. the senator's amendment will do no harm, and it will do some good.

we do not want children and others to get the impression we think it is wrong to be gay or to be transgender. >> there's nothing right about punishing a child based on their sexual orientation or gender identity for political win. there's nothing right about putting these children at risk for bullying, isolation, and self-harm. >> reporter: the bill has sparked a ground swell of opposition across the state. dozens of rallies with students walking out. >> it's better than doing nothing. we've got to put it in their face somehow. >> these young people are riding all night to tell them, enough is enough! >> reporter: some students traveling for hours to the state capital in tallahassee, hoping to stop the bill's passage in the senate. >> if the vote goes into this yes, i feel hike the fight does not stop. we still have to fight for our

rights. >> tell florida lawmakers to stop policing our education. >> reporter: jack petos has been organizing student protests at his high school. >> we had over 500 kids partake, and it was amazing the show of support and solidarity in opposition to this bill. when you look at this language, it targets my community. this suspect about pushing a gay agenda, it's about recognition that there are people out there like me. the vagueness is purposeful in this bill to continue this restriction. queer people aren't inherently edge inappropriate. >> reporter: last september, the school board voted to remove four books from the shelves of jack's high school. all dealing with anti-racism and lbgtq plus issues. >> i just think that they're critical to really our learning

and furthering our understanding of the world, and the issues that plague us. >> reporter: now, another controversy engulfing the state. facing the fallout, the state's teachers. >> it is frustrating as a teacher on the ground to see all the other problems not getting solved, because we're distracted by something that really isn't a problem at all. >> reporter: carol cleaver teaches sixth grade science and is vice president of a teacher's union in pensacola, florida. >> the bill doesn't do anything for parent rights. we've got a lot of gay and lbgtq families in our district, and this bill doesn't do anything to protect their rights. in fact, it hurts their rights. >> reporter: although her students wouldn't be impacted by the legislation, some are worried. >> they are coming to myself and other teachers and asking, do you think this bill is going to pass? what is this go to do to our support club here at the school?

you know, are we going to get in trouble if we wear rainbow colors. kids have a lot of concerns about this bill. even at the middle school level. >> reporter: charlotte's fathers say they don't want their family to be off limits in the classroom. >> we just want her to be proud of her family. i want her to be excited to tell her classmates what she did over the weekend. i just think we need to make sure that our children are safe. and any way that we can empower and protect our children, we need to support them and be there for them and allow teachers to do the same. up next, what really happened inside the heavens gate cult? a preview of the diane sawyer special, the cult next door. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, i feel free ♪

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finally tonight, when 39 members of the heaven's gate cult died in a mass suicide in 1997, it shocked the world. here's a look ahead to the diane

sawyer special, "the cult next door." >> sheriff's department with a search warrant, demanding entry. >> on top of the table, that's one body. >> march 26, 1997. america reels at one of the most bizarre stories in the history of cult and religion. >> one dead here, one dead there. >> 16 bodies, 19. >> reporter: body after body. >> grand total of 39. >> 39 people deceased. >> reporter: even the hardened cops at the scene are reeling. >> turn away. >> what in the hell happened here? who are these people? >> she goes, 39 to beam up. and that -- i think that just said it all. i felt so sorry for her. >> the diane sawyer special "the

cult next door" airs tomorrow night at 9:00, 8:00 central right here on abc. that's "nightline" for tonight. watch all of our full episodes on hulu. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.