Google drops Pride Month, Black History Month from calendar, sparks mixed reactions

Google Calendar has removed several cultural observances from its default holiday list. These include Pride Month, Black History Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The change, first reported by The Verge, has sparked criticism. Many users say it shows tech companies are stepping back from diversity efforts.

Previously, Google Calendar included events like Black History Month (February 1), Women’s History Month (March 1), Pride Month (June 1), and Indigenous Peoples Month (November 1). These are no longer in the default settings for 2025.

Google now only shows public holidays and national observances. It sources this information from timeanddate.com, a long-time data partner. Reports say the company quietly made the change in mid-2024 without announcing it. This has caused frustration among users.

A Google spokesperson, Madison Cushman Veld, defended the move. She told The Verge that adding cultural moments for different countries had become difficult to manage. She said it was not sustainable to keep updating them manually.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” said Google spokesperson Veld.

“A Google spokesperson said the growing number of cultural events was not ‘sustainable.’”

They might have a point: pic.twitter.com/2ZKmngELEU

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) February 10, 2025

Google has encouraged users to manually add observances to their calendars and provide feedback through the built-in Calendar tool.

Despite this, many people are upset. Some have accused Google of downplaying important cultural events. Others called the move “shameful” and said the company is “capitulating to fascism.”

On social media, the decision has sparked debate. One X user wrote,"@Google please change this back. It's such an important time that those holiday months should be acknowledged. Our government is trying to erase them, please don't assist in this. I know logistically it might be difficult, but this is important. Please reconsider."

Another user, @zillennialelder, suggested an alternative approach: "They should have made it optional, rather than get rid of all of it."

However, some defended the move. Chris on X wrote, "Personally… what’s the problem? They just kept the national holidays. You can add back Pride and BLM if YOU want… and not force it on others who don’t care."

Another user shared a conflicted view, saying, "I feel bad about the idea of taking away Pride Month from those who deserve it. But I also can't imagine being gay and thinking I needed a whole month to celebrate it. Maybe just a day?"

As of now, Google has not indicated whether it plans to restore the removed observances. Users who wish to track events like Pride Month, Black History Month, and Indigenous Peoples Month must manually add them to their calendars.