diff --git a/lib/builder/xmlbase.rb b/lib/builder/xmlbase.rb
index 8f03a82..2fac283 100644
--- a/lib/builder/xmlbase.rb
+++ b/lib/builder/xmlbase.rb
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def explicit_nil_handling?
     def tag!(sym, *args, &block)
       text = nil
       attrs = nil
+      escape_text = true
       sym = "#{sym}:#{args.shift}" if args.first.kind_of?(::Symbol)
       sym = sym.to_sym unless sym.class == ::Symbol
       args.each do |arg|
@@ -51,6 +52,8 @@ def tag!(sym, *args, &block)
         when nil
           attrs ||= {}
           attrs.merge!({:nil => true}) if explicit_nil_handling?
+        when true, false
+          escape_text = arg
         else
           text ||= ''
           text << arg.to_s
@@ -78,7 +81,11 @@ def tag!(sym, *args, &block)
       else
         _indent
         _start_tag(sym, attrs)
-        text! text
+        if escape_text
+          text! text
+        else
+          self << text
+        end
         _end_tag(sym)
         _newline
       end
diff --git a/test/test_markupbuilder.rb b/test/test_markupbuilder.rb
index 562b12a..59eabc8 100644
--- a/test/test_markupbuilder.rb
+++ b/test/test_markupbuilder.rb
@@ -194,6 +194,11 @@ def test_non_escaping
     assert_equal %{<div ns:xml="&xml;"><h&i><em>H&amp;R Block</em></div>}, @xml.target!
   end
 
+  def test_dont_escape
+    @xml.div({"id"=>2}, false, 'H&amp;R Block')
+    assert_equal %{<div id="2">H&amp;R Block</div>}, @xml.target!
+  end
+
   def test_return_value
     str = @xml.x("men")
     assert_equal @xml.target!, str