this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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What's is the reference to water fountains?
In the US during the Jim Crow era—a period of racial apartheid and near slavery conditions for many black people via sharecropping, which lasted from post-Civil War reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s—water fountains were separated by ‘white’ and ‘colored’; a black person drinking from the white fountain was a criminal offense. American history textbooks often have photos of children or teens drinking from a fountain that says ‘WHITES ONLY’, so it’s a trope most Americans are familiar with.
Segregated water fountains in the US, often under the guise of health concerns/contracting diseases where used to push white supremacism.
Much the same as the toilet debate is claimed to be around women’s safety but is about male cishetereo supremacy.
The seperate but equal solution is in play again with trans people being made to use disabled/third toilets - often portable toilets located outside of premises risking harm.