The Trump administration has quietly rolled back a long-standing rule that explicitly prohibited federal contractors from maintaining segregated facilities.
In another remarkable move from an utterly brazen and short-sighted administration, the government will no longer require companies with federal contracts to uphold protections against segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains.
This decision comes after President Donald Trump revoked a decades-old executive order issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which cemented diversity and affirmative action requirements in federal hiring. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and various state laws still outlaw racial segregation, this reversal marks a seismic shift in government priorities—and annihilates an essential tool for implementing civil rights protections.
The Trump administration’s attack on diversity, equity and inclusion just keeps getting more and more sinister.
The Trump administration has just removed a federal ban on contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms, and drinking fountains.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) March 18, 2025
This is a result of Trump’s executive order to combat DEI. pic.twitter.com/j0Hbsy5ZPo
The administration is hoping that the move will allow for a broader reinterpretation of civil rights laws that steers the conversation toward so-called “anti-white discrimination.”
In a public memo, the General Services Administration (GSA) defended the change as a necessary response to Trump’s dismantling of LBJ’s executive order mandating fair hiring practices for federal contractors.
A specific clause in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) once clarified that federal contractors could not “maintain or provide for its employees any segregated facilities.”
That clause has now been scrapped.
From now on, agencies will no longer be required to include the “Prohibition of Segregated Facilities” clause in new contracts or solicitations. FAR’s definition of segregated spaces covered workplaces, cafeterias, water fountains, housing and even transportation.
Will they soon be returning us to the back of the bus? The possibility does not feel as far-fetched as it should and without a doubt, opens the door to a dangerous precedent.
With this change, federal agencies—including the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health—have already started shifting their policies.
“As our nation, unfortunately, becomes more divided and polarized, the last thing we need is any effort that could be perceived as allowing racial segregation,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and urged Americans not to “turn back the clock” to a time when racism was enshrined in law.
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, racial segregation was rigorously enforced across much of the South. Businesses boldly exhibited signs ushering Black Americans and white patrons to separate facilities. Civil rights activists fought tirelessly to dismantle that system, but lately, it seems as though the Trump administration is determined to throw America back to the Jim Crow era.
Drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina
Image credit: Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division
While the Trump administration insists that federal contractors must still abide by civil rights laws, the federal government now has the responsibility of enforcement—to investigate likely violations rather than prevent them outright.
For businesses, the immediate economic cost of compliance has been lifted. Still, for marginalized communities, the impact could be far-reaching, with many fearing that the rollback could create legal gray areas, particularly for transgender individuals and other marginalized groups.
