LGBT Rights in Jordan - Criminal Laws

Criminal Laws

In 1951, a revision of the national criminal code decriminalized private, adult, non-commercial and consensual sodomy, with the age of consent set at 16.

Periodic government crackdowns on homosexuals tends to focus on male cruising, public displays of affection and prostitution. In 2008, Saad Manasir, Governor of Amman, pledged to continue with the crackdown until, "we eradicate any trace of male homosexuals in the society."

While legal, traditional Islamic morality deems it to be a sin and there have been reports of bias motivated crimes, including murder, directed at LGBT Jordanians. Often these crimes are vigilante honor killings directed at a family member whose "illicit" sexuality is seen as bringing shame to the family. In 1999, a Jordanian family living in the United States repeatedly beat their adult daughter and attempted to forcibly return her home after they discovered that she was gay.

This abuse does not appear to be official government policy, although the government seems reluctant to come to the aid of such an unpopular class of people. The Jordanian criminal code does provide lesser penalties for a man killing his wife or kin for engaging in "illicit" sexual relations.