diff --git a/passmower/application.yaml b/passmower/application.yaml
index 00fece9..13dfc97 100644
--- a/passmower/application.yaml
+++ b/passmower/application.yaml
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ spec:
             - name: REQUIRE_CUSTOM_USERNAME
               value: "true"
             - name: NORMALIZE_EMAIL_ADDRESSES
-              value: "true"
+              value: "false" # makes members unable to login due to e-mail being stored unnormalized in user oidc crd. Normalizing it by force has had regressions elsewhere.
             - name: REDIS_URI
               valueFrom:
                 secretKeyRef: