diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 08ebdaacb..ece7eae94 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 ## Bug fixes
 * Don't link to deleted users in admin user stats [#8063](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8063)
+* Properly validate a profile's gender field length instead of failing with a database error. [#8127](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8127)
 
 ## Features
 
diff --git a/app/models/profile.rb b/app/models/profile.rb
index 74ca9fec6..7a615ffae 100644
--- a/app/models/profile.rb
+++ b/app/models/profile.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class Profile < ApplicationRecord
   validates :first_name, :length => { :maximum => 32 }
   validates :last_name, :length => { :maximum => 32 }
   validates :location, :length => { :maximum =>255 }
+  validates :gender, length: {maximum: 255}
 
   validates_format_of :first_name, :with => /\A[^;]+\z/, :allow_blank => true
   validates_format_of :last_name, :with => /\A[^;]+\z/, :allow_blank => true
diff --git a/spec/models/profile_spec.rb b/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
index c1a83f13f..f0cafecf1 100644
--- a/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
@@ -124,6 +124,18 @@ describe Profile, :type => :model do
     end
   end
 
+  describe "of gender" do
+    it "can be 255 characters long" do
+      profile = FactoryGirl.build(:profile, gender: "a" * 255)
+      expect(profile).to be_valid
+    end
+
+    it "cannot be 256 characters" do
+      profile = FactoryGirl.build(:profile, gender: "a" * 256)
+      expect(profile).not_to be_valid
+    end
+  end
+
   describe "image_url setters" do
     %i(image_url image_url_small image_url_medium).each do |method|
       describe "##{method}=" do