diff --git a/anyconfig/backend/yaml.py b/anyconfig/backend/yaml.py
index bde8edf6..48241677 100644
--- a/anyconfig/backend/yaml.py
+++ b/anyconfig/backend/yaml.py
@@ -108,12 +108,14 @@ def container_representer(dumper, data, mapping_tag=_MAPPING_TAG):
         """
         return dumper.represent_mapping(mapping_tag, data.items())
 
-    if not anyconfig.compat.IS_PYTHON_3:
-        def ustr_representer(dumper, data):
-            tag = "tag:yaml.org,2002:python/unicode"
-            return dumper.represent_scalar(tag, data)
+    def ustr_representer(dumper, data):
+        tag = "tag:yaml.org,2002:python/unicode"
+        return dumper.represent_scalar(tag, data)
 
+    try:
         dumper.add_representer(unicode, ustr_representer)
+    except NameError:
+        pass
 
     if type(container) != dict:
         dumper.add_representer(container, container_representer)