str.encode does not accept kwargs in Py < 2.7. Closes #68. Thanks to mbudde

kombu/transport/SQS.py

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from boto.sqs.message import Message
 
 from kombu.transport import virtual
 from kombu.utils import cached_property, uuid
+from kombu.utils.encoding import safe_str
 
 
 # dots are replaced by dash, all other punctuation
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ class Channel(virtual.Channel):
 
     def entity_name(self, name, table=CHARS_REPLACE_TABLE):
         """Format AMQP queue name into a legal SQS queue name."""
-        return name.encode(errors="replace").translate(table)
+        return safe_str(name).translate(table)
 
     def _new_queue(self, queue, **kwargs):
         """Ensures a queue exists in SQS."""