Carbisdale Castle owner Samantha Kane speaks at Highland Pride 2025, telling LGBTQ+ community ‘it is good to be resilient, and we’ve got to fight’
Lady Carbisdale was one of three guest speakers to address the crowd at Highland Pride 2025.
It was a first time event for Samantha Kane, the owner of Carbisdale Castle, who joined returning politicians Emma Roddick MSP and Cllr Sarah Fanet on stage throughout the afternoon at Eden Court in Inverness.
Ms Kane spoke on her experience as the only recognised living Iraqi national to be openly transgender, with the only other name appearing online being Doski Azad, who was murdered by her own brother in January 2022.
She then moved to the UK in the 1970s, and says that she had to form a mental toughness to move forward in her life that is needed once again among transgender people again now.
“I was born in Iraq, and my childhood was quite a struggle,” she told the sold-out crowd at Eden Court’s Empire Theatre.
“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.
“In our community in the Highlands, we want to stop any hate whatsoever.”
Ms Kane works as a barrister, specialising in human rights.
That made her uniquely placed to comment on the current state of play for LGBTQ+, and in particular trans, people given the recent Supreme Court ruling.
She continued: “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.
“Obviously there was a backlash against transgender women, but we will fight on. We are women.”
