CIVIL WRONGS

Trump Overturns Federal Ban on ‘Segregated Facilities’

“This change sends a CLEAR message,” one civil rights attorney said.

The Trump administration has rolled back a key clause in federal government contracts that explicitly prohibited contractors from having segregated facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains.

A February memo from the General Services Administration first reported by NPR stated that several provisions in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a document that sets uniform guidelines for government acquisitions, “are not consistent with the direction of the president.”

Though the memo emphasized that all contractors—whether or not they work for the government—are “still covered by existing United States laws on civil rights/nondiscrimination,” it instructed agencies not to include a number of FAR provisions and clauses in future solicitations and contracts.

That list included clauses titled “Prohibition of Segregated Facilities,” “Equal Opportunity,” and “Affirmative Action Compliance.”

The memo said these clauses were being removed in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and gender ideology.

FAR Clause 52.222-21 defined segregated facilities to include locker rooms, waiting rooms, recreation areas, transportation, and housing “that are segregated by explicit directive or are in fact segregated on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin because of written or oral policies or employee custom.”

Segregation still ostensibly remains illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but civil rights lawyer Ben Crump said the GSA memo “sends a CLEAR message.”

Democratic Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown also described the change as “unbelievable.”

A federal employee who works on contracts told NPR that making such changes without the typical public notice period of 45 to 90 days is typically reserved for national emergencies.

“The way that they’re implementing this in the contracting field is essentially subverting democracy — you’re supposed to allow agencies to comment on this, contracting officers to comment on it, and think through the implications carefully," the source said. “By doing this, they’re essentially ramming things through hoping no one’s going to notice.”

A GSA spokesperson told the Daily Beast that the FAR clauses were removed “to quickly comply with the Trump Administration” executive orders, though it said the Civil Rights Act “must still be followed.”

“Having additional duplicative regulations in the FAR places unnecessary burden on American companies from doing business with the federal government,” the spokesperson said. “This is why reforming the FAR is such a high priority for GSA and this administration.”

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Julia OrnedoReporter

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