With the naming of Carol Ann Duffy as the new British Poet Laureate, both Britain and the United States have lesbians holding the title. In July 2008, Kay Ryan was named by the Library of Congress as the 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.
Ryan and her partner Carol Adair “married twice – once at San Francisco City Hall in 2004, the second time at the Marin Civic Center in 2008, on the same day Ryan learned she had been named U.S. poet laureate. They were together for 30 years,” reported the Marin Independent when Adair died in January 2009.
Duffy is the first lesbian mom to hold the Poet Laureate title, however—and the first woman. She in fact left the decision about whether to take the position up to her 13-year-old daughter, reports the AP (via 365gay.com), who urged her to do so because she would be the first woman. She says that even in her new public role, she will continue to protect her privacy and her daughter, the Advocate reports. (Neither the Advocate nor 365gay.com seem to have noticed the dual lesbian poet laureates, however.)