Google Calendar has come under fire after removing key cultural holidays, including Black History Month and LGBTQ+ Pride Month, from its app.
For years, the calendar service had highlighted these celebrations on the first days of February and June, respectively.
However, for 2025, both months now appear blank, leaving users disappointed and frustrated.
In addition to Black History Month and Pride Month, references to other significant cultural events such as Women’s History Month, Indigenous Peoples Month, Jewish Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day have also been removed.
The changes have left the calendar showing only default entries for public holidays and national observances like Christmas Day, leading many to question the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Users quickly noticed the shift and voiced their concerns on the Google Calendar Help Community board.
One user, Grace Spence, expressed her outrage, saying, “I understand that posting here will do absolutely nothing but I need to express just how sick and absolutely disgusting this company is for removing these holidays. History will never be on your side.”
Another user echoed the sentiment, stating, “I am disappointed that you have removed cultural events from your calendar.
I always envisioned Google as a force for good in the world, and not racially or culturally biased. Poor show, Google.”
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In response, Google product experts advised users to manually add cultural holidays to their calendars or submit feedback through the app.
A spokesperson for Google explained the decision, stating that the company had worked with TimeAndDate.com, a time-keeping website, to add public holidays and national observances to the software.
They clarified that the decision to remove the cultural holidays was made in mid-2024 to improve scalability and consistency, as manually maintaining hundreds of global cultural moments was not sustainable.
Despite the backlash, Google reassured users that the changes to Google Calendar would not affect Google Doodles, the special logos on the search engine’s homepage that celebrate important cultural events and historical moments.
