Google Calendar Erases Black History Month, Pride, and More – Many Outraged

Google has quietly removed Black History Month, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, and several other cultural observances from its Calendar app, sparking widespread backlash. The removal, which affects both desktop and mobile versions of the service, means users will no longer see automatic reminders for these events in 2025 and beyond. Previously, Google Calendar included these important dates as part of its standard event listings. However, users noticed their absence for the upcoming year, leading to widespread criticism online.

Why Did Google Remove These Cultural Events?

According to a statement provided by Google spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld, the decision was made due to scalability concerns. “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.”

Instead of manually curating cultural observances, Google has opted to display only public holidays and national observances sourced from timeanddate.com. This means that users must now manually add cultural events like Black History Month and Pride Month if they wish to be reminded of them.

Timing Raises Political Questions

The move comes at a politically charged moment, following Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his administration’s aggressive rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies across federal agencies.

Google, one of the world’s largest tech companies, has already announced scaling back its own DEI initiatives—a decision that has raised eyebrows in the tech industry. The removal of cultural holidays from Google Calendar now adds to concerns that the company is subtly aligning with these political shifts.

This disturbs me. Doesn’t it disturb you? https://t.co/MQpbdxEF9k Google Calendar users no longer see default entries for events like Pride, Black History Month

— Steven Hassan, PhD (@CultExpert) February 12, 2025

Additionally, in a separate but related move, Google has reportedly changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” for U.S. users and reverted Alaska’s Denali mountain back to its colonial-era name, “Mount McKinley”, following Trump’s executive orders.

User Backlash: ‘Google Is Erasing Us’

The reaction on social media has been swift and critical. Many users argue that by removing these events, Google is minimizing the visibility of marginalized communities. Some expressed frustration that they now have to manually re-add events that were once automatically recognized, seeing it as a symbolic erasure of cultural identity.

“Google is literally erasing us,” wrote one Twitter/X user, highlighting the frustration of LGBTQ+ users and Black activists.

“This is why representation matters,” another user commented. “If we’re not in the algorithm, we don’t exist.”

“It’s important to continue to remind companies that a lot of the things that formerly might have been categorized under the bucket of DEI are actually pretty universally popular and uncontroversial,” says Joelle Emerson, CEO of Paradigm https://t.co/XzbPv3tZow pic.twitter.com/xFRkJHS19Q

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) February 18, 2025

Google Doodles Remain—But Is That Enough?

Google has clarified that this Calendar decision will not affect its well-known Google Doodles, which frequently highlight Black History Month, LGBTQ+ Pride, and Indigenous heritage. Additionally, services like YouTube Music will still feature themed playlists for these events.

However, critics argue that removing Calendar reminders while keeping celebratory branding feels like performative activism—acknowledging these communities only when it benefits Google’s image.

While Google insists this is a technical decision rather than a political one, the timing and impact cannot be ignored. By quietly erasing cultural observances, the company is fueling concerns that tech giants are shifting away from inclusivity in the face of political pressure.

For now, users who want to keep these events visible must take matters into their own hands—manually adding them to their calendars in a move that feels like a step backwards for digital inclusivity.