I tried entering "a@b.com" as a variable's initial value, no go, the data gets blanked out. Now if I create the variable with "x" as the initial value and then set the value to "a@b.com" in a rule action the input is accepted unaltered. I didn't try making an HTTP POST with it, but maybe give that a shot as possible workaround.
No idea if this is a bug or intended behavior.
ETA the emails have the < (and ending) but the forum software stripped them.
