From 50da793cb09b019e427b15d80b568bd2f11b1141 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ralph Bean <rbean@redhat.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:53:36 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] However it makes sense to encode just before sending to the
 wire.

---
 websocket/__init__.py | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/websocket/__init__.py b/websocket/__init__.py
index 3c4d718..da4e87b 100644
--- a/websocket/__init__.py
+++ b/websocket/__init__.py
@@ -818,6 +818,10 @@ class WebSocket(object):
         self.sock.close()
 
     def _send(self, data):
+
+        if isinstance(data, six.text_type):
+            data = data.encode('utf-8')
+
         try:
             return self.sock.send(data)
         except socket.timeout as e: