diff --git a/httplib2/socks.py b/httplib2/socks.py
index dbbe511..cec1a5a 100644
--- a/httplib2/socks.py
+++ b/httplib2/socks.py
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ def connect(self, destpair):
         To select the proxy server use setproxy().
         """
         # Do a minimal input check first
-        if (not type(destpair) in (list,tuple)) or (len(destpair) < 2) or (not isinstance(destpair[0], basestring)) or (type(destpair[1]) != int):
+        if (not type(destpair) in (list,tuple)) or (len(destpair) < 2) or (not isinstance(destpair[0], str)) or (type(destpair[1]) != int):
             raise GeneralProxyError((5, _generalerrors[5]))
         if self.__proxy[0] == PROXY_TYPE_SOCKS5:
             if self.__proxy[2] != None: