Bart Staszewski was sitting at home with his boyfriend last Sunday night when the first results of the Polish general election flashed across his computer. “I thought: ‘Is it real?’” he told i, on the phone from Warsaw. The ruling Law and Justice Party (Pis) had unexpectedly failed to secure a majority, enabling a coalition of three opposition parties to oust the right-wing, anti-LGBT party from government. It was the highest election turnout in a generation. “I was shocked and happy,” he says, before describing metaphorically how it felt, “because the last time I breathed fresh air I was 25. I’m 33 now. Eight years of this government changed me a lot.”