Changing default character encoding in gnome-terminal?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

How can I change the default character encoding in
gnome-terminal?  I'd like it to be UTF-8, but it always opens
up in "Current Locale (ASCII)". There doesn't seem to be a
knob in the Edit -> Profiles window to adjust this, and the
docs at "gnome-terminal --help" also don't suggest that
there's a way of doing this from the command line when it's
launched.

Thanks.

Jesse Sheidlower