diff --git a/src/gtk/dataview.cpp b/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
index fa3c58b5b7..87217e2fbc 100644
--- a/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
+++ b/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
@@ -2213,6 +2213,9 @@ void wxDataViewTextRenderer::SetAlignment( int align )
         return;
 #endif
 
+    if (align == -1)
+        return;
+
     // horizontal alignment:
     PangoAlignment pangoAlign = PANGO_ALIGN_LEFT;
     if (align & wxALIGN_RIGHT)