diff --git a/gluon/contrib/markmin/markmin2html.py b/gluon/contrib/markmin/markmin2html.py
index 45f78dd1..51622ce7 100755
--- a/gluon/contrib/markmin/markmin2html.py
+++ b/gluon/contrib/markmin/markmin2html.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from __future__ import print_function
 import re
 import urllib
 from pydal._compat import maketrans, urllib_quote, unicodeT, to_bytes, to_native, xrange
-from gluon.local_html_escape import local_html_escape as escape
+from pydal.utils import local_html_escape as escape
 from ast import parse as ast_parse
 import ast
 
diff --git a/gluon/highlight.py b/gluon/highlight.py
index 91b4fa78..97b77990 100644
--- a/gluon/highlight.py
+++ b/gluon/highlight.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 """
 from __future__ import print_function
 from pydal._compat import xrange 
-from gluon.local_html_escape import local_html_escape
+from pydal.utils import local_html_escape
 import re
 
 __all__ = ['highlight']
diff --git a/gluon/html.py b/gluon/html.py
index db3a7c15..bd693406 100644
--- a/gluon/html.py
+++ b/gluon/html.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import base64
 from gluon import sanitizer, decoder
 import itertools
 from pydal._compat import reduce, pickle, copyreg, HTMLParser, name2codepoint, iteritems, unichr, unicodeT, urllib_quote, to_bytes, to_native, to_unicode, basestring, urlencode, implements_bool
-from gluon.local_html_escape import local_html_escape
+from pydal.utils import local_html_escape
 import marshal
 
 from gluon.storage import Storage
diff --git a/gluon/languages.py b/gluon/languages.py
index 0daf475d..88e659a6 100644
--- a/gluon/languages.py
+++ b/gluon/languages.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import logging
 from cgi import escape
 from threading import RLock
 from gluon.utf8 import Utf8
-from gluon.local_html_escape import local_html_escape
+from pydal.utils import local_html_escape
 
 from pydal._compat import copyreg, PY2, maketrans, iterkeys, unicodeT, to_unicode, to_bytes, iteritems, to_native, pjoin
 from pydal.contrib.portalocker import read_locked, LockedFile
diff --git a/gluon/local_html_escape.py b/gluon/local_html_escape.py
deleted file mode 100644
index a4345eef..00000000
--- a/gluon/local_html_escape.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-import sys
-
-PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
-
-def local_html_escape(data, quote=False):
-    """
-    Works with bytes.
-    Replace special characters "&", "<" and ">" to HTML-safe sequences.
-    If the optional flag quote is true (the default), the quotation mark
-    characters, both double quote (") and single quote (') characters are also
-    translated.
-    """
-    if PY2:
-        import cgi 
-        s = cgi.escape(data, quote)
-        return s.replace("'", "&#x27;") if quote else s
-    else:
-        import html
-        if isinstance(s, str):
-            return html.escape(s, quote=quote)
-        s = s.replace(b"&", b"&amp;") # Must be done first!
-        s = s.replace(b"<", b"&lt;")
-        s = s.replace(b">", b"&gt;")
-        if quote:
-            s = s.replace(b'"', b"&quot;")
-            s = s.replace(b'\'', b"&#x27;")
-        return s
diff --git a/gluon/utils.py b/gluon/utils.py
index 5e611b9c..22e3cef4 100644
--- a/gluon/utils.py
+++ b/gluon/utils.py
@@ -359,3 +359,28 @@ def getipaddrinfo(host):
                 and isinstance(addrinfo[4][0], basestring)]
     except socket.error:
         return []
+
+
+def local_html_escape(data, quote=False):
+    """
+    Works with bytes.
+    Replace special characters "&", "<" and ">" to HTML-safe sequences.
+    If the optional flag quote is true (the default), the quotation mark
+    characters, both double quote (") and single quote (') characters are also
+    translated.
+    """
+    if PY2:
+        import cgi 
+        s = cgi.escape(data, quote)
+        return s.replace("'", "&#x27;") if quote else s
+    else:
+        import html
+        if isinstance(s, str):
+            return html.escape(s, quote=quote)
+        s = s.replace(b"&", b"&amp;") # Must be done first!
+        s = s.replace(b"<", b"&lt;")
+        s = s.replace(b">", b"&gt;")
+        if quote:
+            s = s.replace(b'"', b"&quot;")
+            s = s.replace(b'\'', b"&#x27;")
+        return s