diff --git a/lib/banzai/filter/reference_filter.rb b/lib/banzai/filter/reference_filter.rb
index 7198a8b03e..5dd6d2fe3c 100644
--- a/lib/banzai/filter/reference_filter.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai/filter/reference_filter.rb
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ module Banzai
 
           next unless link && text
 
-          link = URI.decode(link)
+          link = CGI.unescape(link)
           # Ignore ending punctionation like periods or commas
           next unless link == text && text =~ /\A#{pattern}/
 
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ module Banzai
           text = node.text
 
           next unless link && text
-          link = URI.decode(link)
+          link = CGI.unescape(link)
           next unless link && link =~ /\A#{pattern}\z/
 
           html = yield link, text