A hard-right Polish politician has stepped down from his homophobic party after revealing that he is in a relationship with an intersex reality star.
Dawid Szóstak, who was a prominent activist for the ultra-conservative Confederation party, and model Michalina Manios, who was born male, confirmed their relationship in a recent interview with Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.
‘Now I want to focus on what’s most important’, Szóstak said.
Szóstak, 38, unsuccessfully ran for parliament for Confederation and led the party in the city Katowice.
Szóstak has in the past described himself as: ‘Catholic, Polish, nationalist. Confederation activist, member of the National Movement and the Union of Soldiers of the National Armed Forces.’
Manios, 36, was born with male and female genitalia and was raised a male before undergoing surgery to change her gender.
The couple, who met on a dating site, said they shared the same Catholic and traditional values.
Speaking about how he met his partner, Szóstak said: ‘I liked the photos Michaline posted.
‘They radiated a lot if energy and femininity’.
Manios, who appeared in season two of Poland’s Next Top Model at the age of 22, spoke about her experience being intersex on the show.
‘I was imprisoned from birth, I lived against myself’, she said at the time.
‘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,’ she added.
Manios placed third on the reality TV show in 2011 and also appeared on singing competition The Voice of Poland.
She is currently studying a degree in Sexology and splits her time between Sweden and Poland.
Poland’s hard-right Confederation party has been growing in popularity, especially among young men fed up with the political parties that have dominated the country for most of the post-Communist era.
The party, whose full name is Confederation, Liberty and Independence, is an alliance of radical nationalists and free-market libertarians founded in 2018.
The party criticises the government’s social spending and and regulations, saying they stifle small businesses.
But Poles remain concerned over troubling statements made by some of its members.
One that keeps coming back to haunt them is a remark made by party co-leader Slawomir Mentzen who said in 2019: ‘We don’t want Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes or the European Union’.
Mentezen, who runs a brewery, also faced allegations of racism in 2021 by producing a beer called ‘White IPA Matters’.
