Form validation with radio buttons when updating form

[eluser]sdotsen[/eluser]
I have a form that pulls data from a database.
Code works fine if it's an input box but I can't get the latest $_POST data for radio buttons.

This works for input text box. I get default values pulled from the DB on first load, and I can get the new input (if any) from the user modifies the input box on a failed validation.

Code:

<?php echo form_input('email',set_value('email', $email)); ?>

Here's the code for one of my radio button. It works when I'm pulling data from the DB, but if the form refreshes due to a failed validation, I'm not sure how I can show what the user selected.

Code:

<input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" <?php if($gender == "male") echo "checked";  ?> />Male

I played around with set_radio but i ran into the same issue.