diff --git a/hobo/agent/authentic2/management/commands/hobo_deploy.py b/hobo/agent/authentic2/management/commands/hobo_deploy.py
index 4972fe1..039709e 100644
--- a/hobo/agent/authentic2/management/commands/hobo_deploy.py
+++ b/hobo/agent/authentic2/management/commands/hobo_deploy.py
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ class Command(hobo_deploy.Command):
 
     def check_saml_metadata(self, saml_metadata):
         try:
-            root = ET.fromstring(saml_metadata)
+            root = ET.fromstring(saml_metadata.encode('utf-8'))
         except ET.ParseError:
             return False
         return root.tag == '{%s}EntityDescriptor' % lasso.SAML2_METADATA_HREF