Google Ditches Pride Month and Other Events from Default Holiday Calendar

Google Calendar users have observed that various events, such as Pride Month, Black History Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day, are no longer included in the platform’s default holiday calendar.

The change has sparked criticism from users and reignited debates over tech companies’ evolving approach to diversity initiatives. Google Calendar had previously included observances such as February 1 (Black History Month), March 1 (Women’s History Month), June 1 (Pride Month), and November 1 (Indigenous Peoples Month).

However, for 2025, these events no longer appear in the calendar’s default settings. Google now exclusively displays public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com, its long-time data partner. This shift began quietly in mid-2024 without any public announcement, leading to confusion and frustration among users.

After facing backlash, Google spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld responded to the criticism, telling sources, “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.”

Google urges users to manually add observances to their personal calendars and offer feedback via the integrated Calendar feature. A number of Google Calendar users voiced their frustration on social media, criticizing the company for minimizing significant “cultural” events. Some described the change as “shameful” and accused Google of “succumbing to fascism.”

The change comes as part of a wider trend of reducing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in the US tech sector. Companies like Meta, Intel, and PayPal have scaled back their diversity recruitment programs, while Amazon has removed mentions of “inclusion and diversity” from its financial reports.

Disney has also removed its “Reimagine Tomorrow” DEI initiative from its latest corporate report, replacing it with a program focused on hiring US military veterans, as reported by various publications.

Currently, Google has not made any statements about reinstating the removed DEI initiatives. As a result, users who want to observe events like Pride Month, Black History Month, and Indigenous Peoples Month will need to manually add them to their calendars.

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