literal & chanracter in anchor tag name

[JeffP]

Currently I have a user control which contain a <a href> link tag. I have a
requirement to change the name property of the anchor tag to something like
this:

<a href="somepage.aspx" id"thislink" name="&lid=somename">Link</a>

The problem is that when the aspx page renders this user control, the &
character is converted to <literal>&amp;</literal>. So what I end with is:

<a href="somepage.aspx" id"thislink"
name="<literal>&</literal>amp;lid=somename">Link</a>

Is there any way to force the aspx page to render the & character literally
instead of url encoding it?