Eat, Pray, Love, Gay Marriage

Legalizing gay marriage would make marriage relevant again, says Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the 2006 best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, in an interview with Time. "A lot of heterosexual couples are reluctant to get married because there's a sense of, Why should I have access to this when my friends who have been together just as long as me don't?" she adds. "It starts to make marriage look like a country club. Almost the only way that marriage can continue to mean something in any sort of real way is if it gets more inclusive."

Gilbert has spent three years researching the institution of marriage for her just-published book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage.