diff --git a/tildes/tests/test_group.py b/tildes/tests/test_group.py
index 0494d62..b005b10 100644
--- a/tildes/tests/test_group.py
+++ b/tildes/tests/test_group.py
@@ -39,10 +39,9 @@ def test_middle_element_end_with_underscore():
     assert not is_valid_group_path("x.y_.z")
 
 
-def test_uppercase_letters_invalid():
-    """Ensure a group path can't contain uppercase chars."""
-    assert is_valid_group_path("comp.lang.c")
-    assert not is_valid_group_path("comp.lang.C")
+def test_uppercase_letters_fixed():
+    """Ensure a group path gets uppercase letters converted to lowercase."""
+    assert Group("Comp.Lang.C").path == "comp.lang.c"
 
 
 def test_paths_with_invalid_characters():
diff --git a/tildes/tildes/models/group/group.py b/tildes/tildes/models/group/group.py
index aa35438..e43d092 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/models/group/group.py
+++ b/tildes/tildes/models/group/group.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class Group(DatabaseModel):
 
     def __init__(self, path: str, short_desc: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
         """Create a new group."""
-        self.path = Ltree(path)
+        self.path = path
         self.short_description = short_desc
 
     def __acl__(self) -> Sequence[Tuple[str, Any, str]]:
diff --git a/tildes/tildes/schemas/fields.py b/tildes/tildes/schemas/fields.py
index c1c0a48..3a25a90 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/schemas/fields.py
+++ b/tildes/tildes/schemas/fields.py
@@ -147,6 +147,6 @@ class Ltree(Field):
     def _deserialize(self, value: str, attr: str, data: dict) -> sqlalchemy_utils.Ltree:
         """Deserialize a string path to an Ltree object."""
         try:
-            return sqlalchemy_utils.Ltree(value)
+            return sqlalchemy_utils.Ltree(value.lower())
         except (TypeError, ValueError):
             raise ValidationError("Invalid path")
diff --git a/tildes/tildes/schemas/topic.py b/tildes/tildes/schemas/topic.py
index b6843bc..8e6fc0b 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/schemas/topic.py
+++ b/tildes/tildes/schemas/topic.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class TopicSchema(Schema):
         group_schema = GroupSchema(partial=True)
         for tag in value:
             try:
-                group_schema.validate({"path": tag})
+                group_schema.validate({"path": str(tag)})
             except ValidationError:
                 raise ValidationError("Tag %s is invalid" % tag)