diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 738e05d5edc..3bffdf28a01 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
 
   def self.gravatar_template(email)
     email_hash = self.email_hash(email)
-    "//www.gravatar.com/avatar/#{email_hash}.png?s={size}&r=pg&d=identicon"
+    "//www.gravatar.com/avatar/#{email_hash}.png?s={size}&amp;r=pg&amp;d=identicon"
   end
 
   # Don't pass this up to the client - it's meant for server side use
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index ae13a2523eb..c8c89f3a59c 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -969,7 +969,7 @@ describe User do
   describe "#gravatar_template" do
 
     it "returns a gravatar based template" do
-      User.gravatar_template("em@il.com").should == "//www.gravatar.com/avatar/6dc2fde946483a1d8a84b89345a1b638.png?s={size}&r=pg&d=identicon"
+      User.gravatar_template("em@il.com").should == "//www.gravatar.com/avatar/6dc2fde946483a1d8a84b89345a1b638.png?s={size}&amp;r=pg&amp;d=identicon"
     end
 
   end