diff --git a/src/groupchat_window.py b/src/groupchat_window.py
index ee81b2204..efd61f0b7 100644
--- a/src/groupchat_window.py
+++ b/src/groupchat_window.py
@@ -136,6 +136,11 @@ class GroupchatWindow(chat.Chat):
 				new_jid = jid
 				break
 		subject = self.subjects[new_jid]
+
+		# escape chars when necessary
+		subject = subject.replace('&', '&')
+		new_jid = new_jid.replace('&', '&')
+
 		name_label = self.name_labels[new_jid]
 		name_label.set_markup('<span weight="heavy" size="x-large">%s</span>\n%s' % (new_jid, subject))
 		chat.Chat.on_chat_notebook_switch_page(self, notebook, page, page_num)
diff --git a/src/tabbed_chat_window.py b/src/tabbed_chat_window.py
index d075e5c05..8844e3257 100644
--- a/src/tabbed_chat_window.py
+++ b/src/tabbed_chat_window.py
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ class TabbedChatWindow(chat.Chat):
 		'''Draw the fat line at the top of the window that 
 		houses the status icon, name, jid, and avatar'''
 		# this is the text for the big brown bar
+		# some chars need to be escaped.. this fixes '&'
+		name = name.replace('&', '&amp;')
 		label_text = '<span weight="heavy" size="x-large">%s</span>\n%s' \
 			% (name, jid)