The lawyer representing a Black transgender high school student who was stabbed while getting off a Houston, Texas, bus last month is calling for his client’s assailant to be charged with a hate crime.

According to KHOU, on December 22, 18-year-old Rue, who has been identified only by her first name, was getting off a METRO bus when a man, later identified as Joseph Fuerborn, asked to use her phone to make a call. Rue obliged, but when she asked of her phone back, Fuerborn reportedly refused and stabbed her three times, puncturing her lung.

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Police charge three teenagers in brutal beating of trans classmate. No hate crime charges.
The victim said he was certain transphobia was involved, but police could not find enough evidence to support it.

Fuerborn fled the scene, but was soon apprehended by police with the knife allegedly used to stab Rue still on him.

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Rue spent the holidays in the hospital recovering from her injuries. She spoke to the media for the first time on January 3 outside the Harris County Criminal Courts Building.

“I thought I was gonna become one of those — like my worst fears ever come true,” the teen, who dreams of becoming a fashion designer, said. “I thought my life was going to end before I even got to start it.”

Houston LGBTQ+ outlet OutSmart reported that police linked Fuerborn to another armed robbery, and he has been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

According to KHOU, Rue’s attorney, Kevin Murray, wants Fuerborn’s charges upgraded to a hate crime. “She didn’t do anything in any way to have this attacker violate her person and stab her three times,” Murray said. But as the station notes, incoming Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare’s office will ultimately determine whether Fuerborn’s intent and mindset warrant a hate crime upgrade.

At the January 3 press conference, Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus Austin Ruiz told reporters that violence against trans people is all too common. As OutSmart noted, Black trans women are particularly at risk, with the Transgender Law Center reporting that 57 percent of all reported victims of fatal anti-trans violence in Texas between 2017 and 2020 were Black.

In its November 2024 report on violence against transgender and gender-expansive people in the U.S., the Human Rights Campaign described a “national state of emergency” for the country’s trans community. According to the report, over 60 percent of all victims of fatal anti-trans violence identified since 2013 have been Black trans women, and Texas has seen more incidents of fatal anti-trans violence than any other U.S. state. As the report notes, the state has one of the most extensive slates of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the country.

At a January 4 rally to raise awareness of violence against the trans community, Rue told KHOU that she hopes to be “more involved” following her ordeal.

“I just hope to be more safe,” she said. “Just for people to know that we aren’t here to harm anyone, I guess, and for people not to harm us.”

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