# HG changeset patch
# User cmlenz
# Date 1189010588 0
# Node ID ccc9614b21d318bebdc14459625aa8330cceb0ca
# Parent  1f705a64f58f8f862474e72b62ad627628315733
Ported [309] to 0.9.x branch.

diff --git a/babel/core.py b/babel/core.py
--- a/babel/core.py
+++ b/babel/core.py
@@ -206,9 +206,9 @@
                                      requested locale
         :see: `parse_locale`
         """
-        if type(identifier) is cls:
-            return identifier
-        return cls(*parse_locale(identifier, sep=sep))
+        if isinstance(identifier, basestring):
+            return cls(*parse_locale(identifier, sep=sep))
+        return identifier
     parse = classmethod(parse)
 
     def __eq__(self, other):