Build_query returns string without special characters

I am using the build_query function on an object to pass it through a URL and dynamically populate a form on a separate page.

The problem is, one of the values that I am trying to pass is an email address. The “@” symbol gets stripped when the query is built and therefore it doesn’t get passed to the form. I am assuming this is because the build_query function does not return a string with special characters.

Is there a way to work around this? Or potentially I am misunderstanding the problem. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you~