diff --git a/mellon/utils.py b/mellon/utils.py
index 1660dec..ab092a7 100644
--- a/mellon/utils.py
+++ b/mellon/utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import importlib
 from functools import wraps
 import isodate
 
+from django.contrib import auth
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 from django.utils.timezone import make_aware, now, make_naive, is_aware, get_default_timezone
@@ -237,3 +238,11 @@ def get_status_codes_and_message(profile):
     if status.statusMessage:
         message = status.statusMessage.decode('utf-8')
     return status_codes, message
+
+def login(request, user):
+    for adapter in get_adapters():
+        if hasattr(adapter, 'auth_login'):
+            adapter.auth_login(request, user)
+            break
+    else:
+        auth.login(request, user)
diff --git a/mellon/views.py b/mellon/views.py
index 9879364..4697eca 100644
--- a/mellon/views.py
+++ b/mellon/views.py
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ class LoginView(ProfileMixin, LogMixin, View):
         next_url = self.get_next_url(default=resolve_url(settings.LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL))
         if user is not None:
             if user.is_active:
-                auth.login(request, user)
+                utils.login(request, user)
                 self.log.info('user %r (NameID is %r) logged in using SAML', unicode(user),
                               attributes['name_id_content'])
                 request.session['mellon_session'] = utils.flatten_datetime(attributes)