Highland Pride 2025 welcome politicians Emma Roddick and Sarah Fanet, as well as Lady Carbisdale, to speak at event at Eden Court in Inverness
Highland Pride welcomed three speakers to the stage at Eden Court’s Empire Theatre – welcoming politicians Emma Roddick MSP and Cllr Sarah Fanet, as well as Lady Carbisdale.
For the first two, it was a return to the stage they shared two years ago, having previously spoken at Highland Pride 2023, while for Lady Carbisdale it was a debut speech at the event.
All three touched on different aspects of the LGBTQ+ experience. Kicking off proceedings in the theatre, Ms Roddick spoke of the importance of continuing to treat Pride as a protest just as much as it is a celebration.
“First and foremost it is a protest and I think that is what we need it to be right now,” she said.
“Politicians, parties and governments are far too quick, when things get difficult, to let equalities progress be the first thing that gets ditched.
“We can use our voices to put pressure on them, remind them that we are here and that promises have been made to the community that have to be delivered on.
“There are three reasons representation at all levels of government is important. I want people at Pride to be able to look at politics and know that it’s something they can do, and it’s not just for cisgender, straight white men.
“Secondly, there needs to be folk like us at the table to put our hands up and say ‘actually, that’s not going to work for this community, and laws should work for everybody in Scotland’.
“Thirdly, it’s important so that folk like me aren’t lonely, because it can be really lonely. We need more people from the queer community involved in politics to make our voices heard, so I would encourage people to get involved whether that is by standing or just being an activist.”
On getting messages across around LGBTQ+ issues, Ms Roddick continued: “I know it can feel repetitive – and I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot in Parliament – but there are folk who don’t get it and they need to be reminded.
“Other pressure groups and lobby groups, other campaigns, have been successful because they are there all the time repeating what they say.
“We can’t underestimate the power that we have, so people should be writing to their parliamentarians, making their voices heard, and being visible like we are today.
“I was campaigning in Hamilton on Thursday, and a guy ended up chasing us down the street shouting ‘SNP has ruined the country because it has made Scotland the gayest country in Europe’. I wish that were true, but I think we made Inverness pretty gay today, so I will settle for that.
“I think the way forward is encouraging people to make it really clear to politicians who have made promises to us that it’s not okay to go back on them, and we will hold them accountable.
“You don’t have to forgive and forget. You don’t have to provide political cover, even if it’s your own party that has under-delivered. You can still say that – it’s not disloyal, it’s factual.”
Samantha Kane, who uses the title Lady Carbisdale, was next to take to the stage, touching on her background growing up in Iraq and moving to the UK, as well as speaking on the state of play for LGBTQ+ rights as a trained human rights lawyer.
She said: “My childhood was quite a struggle. If you Google ‘Iraq’ and ‘trans’ you will find my name, alongside Doski Azad, who was killed in what is called an honour killing.
“It was quite tough. I came to this country in 1976, and it was also tough here for LGBTQ+ people but we showed a resilience.
“I hope people agree with me that it is good to be resilient, and we’ve got to fight, because in our community in the Highlands, we want to stop any hate whatsoever.
“There has been progress since the 1970s and 80s – we had the Human Rights Act (1998) and the Equality Act (2010), but for the trans community there has unfortunately been a step back.
“Most people will know about the recent Supreme Court case, and this has been a misinterpreted issue.
“It is not for judges and lawyers to define what a man is and what a woman is, and the media sensationalised this. There has been a backlash against transgender women, but we will fight on. We are women.”
Finally, Cllr Sarah Fanet took the microphone, addressing the question of what more could have been done and once again calling for a discussion around LGBTQ+ identities that focuses more on humanity.
“I want to acknowledge all the good work that has been done by trans people, particularly over the last 10 years, to raise awareness so that people know we exist,” she said.
“People know more about our humanity – we’re not just the word ‘trans’, we are human beings and we exist.
“At the same time, I am aware that there is growing hostility. I think more emphasis should have been placed on our humanity, on presenting trans people as human beings who just want to get on with their lives.
“When countries were starting to consider legislation, I think it went a bit too fast. We could have done more to reassure women who have fought so much over the last few decades to be heard, and when they say a piece of legislation makes them worried, even if we think there is no risk, we have been too dismissive at times.
“Look at the kind of world we live in now. I wonder when I go to work if someone will challenge me when I go to the toilet, so I think we need to work more on focusing less on legislation and talking more about the humanity of trans people.
“The fight continues, and look at what happened in Belgium – in February, Petra De Sutter stepped down as deputy Prime Minister of Belgium after five years. She is trans, and nobody cared about it.
“The work must continue, but let’s focus more on the humanity of trans people, and less on identity politics. To trans people here, let’s go out and show the world that we have so much to offer the world – not because we are trans, but because we are beautiful human beings.”
