diff --git a/happstack-fastcgi.cabal b/happstack-fastcgi.cabal
--- a/happstack-fastcgi.cabal
+++ b/happstack-fastcgi.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: happstack-fastcgi
-Version: 0.1.2
+Version: 0.1.3
 Copyright: Tupil
 Maintainer: ce [at] tupil.com, eml [at] tupil.com
 License: BSD3
diff --git a/src/Happstack/Server/FastCGI.hs b/src/Happstack/Server/FastCGI.hs
--- a/src/Happstack/Server/FastCGI.hs
+++ b/src/Happstack/Server/FastCGI.hs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     ) 
     where
 
+import Codec.Binary.UTF8.String
 import Control.Applicative
 import Data.Char (toLower)
 import Data.List (isPrefixOf)
@@ -34,7 +35,6 @@
 serverPartToCGI :: (ToMessage b) => ServerPartT IO b -> CGI CGIResult
 serverPartToCGI = convert . processRequest
 
-
 convert :: (Request -> IO Response) -> CGI CGIResult
 convert f = cgiGet id 
         >>= toHappstackRequest 
@@ -75,11 +75,11 @@
 (?)   :: CGIRequest -> String -> Maybe String
 r ? k = M.lookup k $ cgiVars r
 
--- | Like fromJust, but with a default value in case of Nothing.
+-- | Like fromJust, but with a default value in case of Nothing
 withDef x = maybe x id
 
--- | Look up a String in the cgiVars, returning the empty string if the key is not present
-str k v   = withDef "" (v ? k)
+-- | Look up a String in the cgiVars, returning the empty string if the key is not present, also does UTF8 decoding
+str k v   = withDef "" (v ? k >>= return . decodeString)
 
 -- | Append if the list is not empty
 x ?: [] = []