parentheses become encoded in db query

[eluser]SailorJohn[/eluser]
I have a legacy database with a field which contains some parentheses,

|field1|
|------|
|red(b)|

But if I try to query for that value, the parentheses come out encoded.

This query:

Code:

select * from table where field1 = "red(b)"

Becomes this query:

Code:

select * from table where field1 = "red & #40; b & #41; "

(I put a space between the & and #).

This return no rows.

Any ideas on how to handle this?