Polish Politician Leaves Far-Right Party for Intersex Woman
The far-right Konfederacja party holds a number of socially conservative views, including opposition to LGBTQ rights and visibility.
A politician from Poland’s far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party has quit after revealing his relationship with model Michalina Manios, an intersex woman.
In a joint interview with the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, Dawid Szóstak and Manios confirmed they were dating and said they want to “focus on what’s important,” according to Euronews.
The couple stressed their shared values, noting that both are Catholic and deeply respectful of tradition.
Szóstak told the newspaper they met on an online platform, though he declined to say which one.
“I liked the photos Michalina posted,” he said. “They radiated a lot of energy and femininity.”
He contacted Manios through the platform, and they began talking, eventually building an emotional connection.
“Everything happened quite naturally. We became a couple,” Manios said. “We have respect and understanding for each other.”
Manios first came to public attention in 2011 on the reality TV show Zostań modelką, based on Tyra Banks’ hit series America’s Next Top Model. On the show, she revealed she was born intersex and raised as a boy until age 18, when she legally changed her gender, was recognized as a woman, and moved to Sweden. She has described her early childhood as being “in prison.”
“Functionally, I developed as a woman, but unfortunately, I was assigned a male identity, not any other,” she said during her stint on the show. “My body and mind developed toward femininity, but my genitals didn’t. I was ashamed to go to physical education classes because I was embarrassed.”
Szóstak, who led Konfederacja in Katowice and unsuccessfully ran for parliament, has deleted his social media accounts since revealing the details of the relationship.
Konfederacja embraces right-wing populism but is more supportive of economic liberalism and free markets than other Polish populist parties. Its leaders often argue that Law and Justice’s immigration policies aren’t harsh enough, oppose European Union membership, and promote socially conservative stances on abortion, feminism, and LGBTQ rights — positions that may have influenced Szóstak’s decision to leave.
In 2019, party leader Sławomir Mentzen bluntly summed up Konfederacja’s goals: “We stand against Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes, and also the European Union!”
In Poland’s presidential election earlier this year, more than half of voters backed right-wing candidates. Mentzen and Konfederacja captured 14.8% of the vote, making notable gains among younger voters.
When Law and Justice was in power, it advanced harsh anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric to appeal to socially conservative voters. Nearly 100 localities — covering a third of the country — declared themselves “LGBT-free zones,” banning information that portrayed LGBTQ identity or relationships as normal or promoted LGBTQ rights and visibility. Those measures have since been repealed, with the last overturned earlier this year.
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