What seemed like a minor administrative change in early 2025 in Washington has sparkled a heated debate. A few months ago, the Trump administration confirmed the elimination of a key federal contract rule that has been in place since the civil rights era in the sixties. Specifically, it is the clause that expressly prohibited federal government contractors from having “segregated facilities.” Yes, you just had flashbacks from those Coloured Only fountains, we know
The news has generated intense controversy, while the government justifies the action as a bureaucratic simplification and a fight against the identity politics that had been installed during the last decade.
The FAR 52.222-21
To understand the change, we first need to understand the contracting manual. It’s called the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and it’s an extensive document used by all federal agencies to establish the terms of contracts for goods and services. Specifically, the rule that was eliminated was the FAR 52.222-21, formally titled “Prohibition of Segregated Facilities.” This clause required a contractor to certify that it did not maintain or allow any segregated facilities for its employees.
This clause’s origin can be traced back to Executive Order 11246 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. That order sought to use the immense power of federal spending to ensure equal opportunity and integration in the workplace. Although the rule was conceived as a protection of racial minority rights, the clause was updated during the Obama administration in 2015.
Updated in the midst of the Walker era, its indent was expanded to prohibit segregation based on gender equality and sexual orientation. As bathrooms are considered public spaces, it became a contractual mechanism to protect the supposed rights of transgender employees.
The Trump administration is reversing this, as they fear for the physical safety of biological women who enter the bathroom and have to share space with men who, protected by the new gender laws, hide behind a supposed transsexuality to enter spaces reserved for women and young children. With this reform of the law, the White House ensures that it can divide common spaces by biological sex and not by “gender identity,” which is easily manipulated by completing a bureaucratic procedure and modifying identity documentation. According to the White House, it’s not about feelings, but about being able to pee while standing up or not.
The Administrative Maneuver and Civil Rights
This clause modification is not an isolated ocurrence, but rather the direct result of a series of executive orders (EOs) issued by President Donald J. Trump in early 2025. The change is part of the administration’s initiative to dismantle federal DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies.
The first relevant EO is “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (EO 14173). This EO repealed the historic EO 11246 of 1965, the legal basis for the segregation clause. The second relevant (EO, EO 14168) is titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This second EO aims directly at defining sex in a binary and biological manner. It also requires that federal intimate spaces be designated by biological sex rather than “self-perceived gender identity”.
The Trump Administration is keen on deregulating; dictating from the Government how to feel or layout common spaces does not feel democratic. White House spokesman, Harrison Fields, stated that the President is working to “unleash prosperity through deregulation.” The goal is for businesses to face “fewer bureaucratic roadblocks.”
Before we throw our hands up in horror, it is essential to understand that the Civil Rights Laws of 1964 are still in force. This law prohibits discrimination and segregation in employment and public spaces. No one is going to start building bathrooms for whites or water fountains only for people of color. Thus, the elimination of the segregation ban facilitates the implementation of binary bathroom policies by companies that do business with the government.