Google Calendar Removes Pride Month Listing

Google Calendar has removed its default entries for Black History Month, Pride Month, and Women’s History Month from both its desktop and mobile app versions.

The changes also include dropping other commemorative dates, such as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Google Claims Changes Are Logistical

While some believe this move is part of Google’s efforts to appease the right-wing Trump administration, the company insists the change was made in mid-2024 for practical reasons.

“Maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” said Google in a statement. “So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments.”

The change comes on the heels of reports that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has removed references to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) from its annual report and dropped its diversity hiring goals.

Responding to Political Pressure

These shifts appear to be in response to executive orders by US President Donald Trump, which condemned the concept of “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) and ended such initiatives within government and among federal contractors.

It’s also been noted that the title of Melonie D. Parker, formerly Google’s Global Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, has quietly been changed to “Vice-President of Googler Engagement.”

In a statement, Google effectively admitted that it is adjusting to protect its business interests, saying, “As a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic.”

The company has also come under fire for another dramatic change in its corporate values after it removed its longstanding pledge to not use AI technologies for weapons and surveillance or “to cause overall harm”.

Broader Trend Among Corporates

Google is not alone in rolling back its diversity policies. A wave of conservative influence in the US has seen companies such as Disney, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, and Meta announce cuts or reductions to their DEI programmes.

These developments fuel long-standing accusations that corporations often only embrace LGBTQ-affirming values as a form of “pinkwashing” to appear progressive when it is convenient and risk-free.