Google Calendar removed events like Pride and BHM; retains Black Friday
42 comments
·February 11, 2025amazingamazing
Spivak
We know. The only reason corporations include them is because they feel like they have to. It means those issues have enough political capital to get the entities with real power to back them. Institutionalizing is the shield for those groups politically, if you go after <group> then you're losing money, votes, and you'll drown in bad press.
You can try to minimize it by calling them pet issues but they affect real people. "Pet issues" from the other side are "today's political whipping boy." Trust me, we would rather not be talking about them either. Maybe the whole DEI thing is a blessing in disguise because it points all the arbitrary rage on an abstract concept rather than specific groups of people. We've always been at war with DEI…
amazingamazing
Calling something a pet issue is in no way minimizing it - people care a lot about their pets.
nonchalantsui
Events still important enough for Google to maintain "sustainably": Columbus Day.
ars
Which is a Federal holiday.
trescenzi
While it’s not designated by a law BHM is declared by the president every year including this one:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/nati...
7e
"Sustainability" is bullshit. Holidays don't come and go willy-nilly. We're talking a few updates a year across the entire globe. That said, Google teams are notoriously lazy, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Calendar team felt this once-in-a-blue-moon maintenance was eating into their froyo time.
hypeatei
This an obvious bending of the knee towards the Trump administration since they're on a revenge tour and don't really care about breaking laws. It's not surprising that Google, a big tech company, is looking out for profits over anything else by trying to avoid attention from the new establishment that is MAGA.
malfist
Look, normally I'd agree with you, I'm pretty far left. But they did this in mid 2024 and it wasn't a problem for anyone until this week. Probably not related to Trump at all.
Let's be angry at them for the right reasons and not for false narratives.
hypeatei
Sorry, I read the article but didn't notice this excerpt at the bottom.
> So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances
I stand corrected.
ars
Yes very obvious, and also demonstrates that Google owns a time machines, since they did this 9 months ago.
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readthenotes1
They should add all the Saints Days for all the religions.
nsoonhui
>> Jewish Heritage, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage have also been removed, according to a Google product expert.
Sorry, I just don't understand what's the outrage. It's not like only Pride and BHM are targeted.
Care to explain ?
IncreasePosts
The outrage is people think this is Google "capitulating to fascism", because they connect the news with the ever-present Trump boogie man. E.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43007864
When, really, Google made this change in mid 2024 and it's just being reported on.
Wolfenstein98k
This is a way to sledge Trump, even though it's unrelated to him.
ceejayoz
“It’s fine, they’re targeting all the minorities!”
frugalmail
This is a good thing. Google has an extensive library of specialized calendars you can add to yours. If you want these events, you can add them.
I personally don't want things on my calendar that aren't mine or have nothing to do with me getting the services I need being potentially unavailable.
blackeyeblitzar
Good. I don’t know why Pride or Black History Month, which are activist / political things, were forced onto everyone’s calendars to begin with. To me it felt like Google employees were forcing their personal religion or politics on the entire world. As I recall, you could not remove these things from your calendar either, unless you chose to opt out of all official holidays as well. Even in Google apps at work. It was unprofessional and it should have never been this way.
That said, I agree with the article that this change is not happening because Google leaders or shareholders have changed how they think, but for other reasons. Personally, I think it is to avoid the antitrust scrutiny they deserve. Because they and other tech companies went along with the previous administration, they avoided things like investigations or fines or breakups. The right wants to enforce antitrust law and Trump has also said he would go after big tech, so this is a way to gain their support.
Larrikin
>In 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244, which designated February 1986 as "National Black (Afro-American) History Month.” This law noted that February 1, 1986 would “mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History.” The law further directed the president to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe February 1986 as Black History Month with the appropriate ceremonies and activities. President Reagan issued Presidential Proclamation 5443 External
https://guides.loc.gov/black-history-month-legal-resources/h...
It has been on the calendar for over a generation. It has been on every single paper calendar I've seen in my entire life well before Google was even a thing.
Black History month has been attacked and removed because the President and many of his supporters are racist. That's why
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ars
> Black History month has been attacked and removed because the President and many of his supporters are racist. That's why
It could also be that Google wanted to show off their time machine, so they removed it 9 months ago.
Larrikin
Or they were reading the winds and playing both sides like Bezos and his non-endorsement by removing events after they had already happened in 2024
Black Friday is still on the calendar because they couldn't rewrite history before it happened.
blackeyeblitzar
The text you quoted seems to be about one particular year. But leaving that, why was BHM part of Google’s US holidays calendar? As I recall Juneteenth was made an official holiday, so maybe showing that makes sense even though it’s also activist. But Pride and BHM?
mikebonnell
You seem to be missing this point from the wording:
"mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History." emphasis on beginning and annual
KittenInABox
Have you been raised in the US? Did you go to any educational institution or maybe you were raised in a much more isolated environment? The celebration of BHM was in practically every school I've been in, as a public school student. It makes total sense for BHM to be in a general US calendar even if not everyone celebrates it as a holiday. Jewish holidays and Ramadan also fell under this category in my experience.
Larrikin
[flagged]
titzer
> Good.
> That said, I agree with the article that this change...[is happening] for other reasons.
Just to be clear, you're explicitly stating that you're fine with the government threatening corporations and individuals over their free speech--because you agree with it.
This is slipping into a dystopian hellscape. Just so you know. The corporations marching lockstep with the politics of the regime of the day is just one of those signs of it.
pupppet
Is it such a terrible thing trying to normalize showing empathy to those who have traditionally not received it?
speakfreely
Google is exactly the evil company that it founders set out to be against. It's a monopoly that crushes little people with no recourse (talk to anyone who has ever advertised on Google and ask what they think of their customer support). Their product people have gotten into the habit of shoving their political views down the public's throat via their widely used products because they know they can get away with it. I am eagerly waiting for the day that someone can displace them and end their callous behavior towards the general public.
chefandy
A truly sinister conspiracy to recognize the humanity of people whose legal right to choose any bus seat or patronize many restaurants, among many other things, is younger than BASIC.
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skywhopper
Wait till you hear what July 4 and Christmas are about.
Luckily users can add those, and other events to their own calendar. I'm happy users will understand none of these corporations actually care about {insert pet issue of the day}.