Having converted coldfusion to PHP myself it is certainly possible. Amusingly I still don't actually know coldfusion. Was certainly a fun experience.

If it is echo'ing in source it isn't a problem with the php. I suggest it has to do with the design of the site.

Below is a basic example of how I wrote an array drop down for a choice of messengers. $msgr is simply a post result for msgr, so it retains what you selected.

<fieldset><label for="msgr">Primary...

Perhaps try windows1256. I noticed utf8 didn't have a hyphen. Not having used tidy myself I can't be sure though.