The Jordanian delegates to the conference helped to defeat the proposal. The international conference sought to address women's rights issues on a global scale, and a proposal was made to have the conference formally address the human rights of gay and bisexual women. The first time that the Jordanian government made any public statement regarding LGBT rights was at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995. The Jordanian penal code gives the police discretion when it comes to protecting the public peace, which has sometimes been used against gay people organizing social events. As of 2013, the newly revised Penal Code makes honor killings, as a legal justification for murder, illegal. The Jordanian penal code no longer permits family members to beat or kill a member of their own family whose 'illicit' sexuality is interpreted as bringing 'dishonor' to the entire family. In 1951, a revision of the Jordanian Criminal Code legalized private, adult, non-commercial, and consensual sodomy, with the age of consent set at 16.
The British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance criminalized homosexuality with up to 10 years in prison, until 1951 when Jordan adopted its own penal code that did not criminalize homosexuality.
