Each child should be able to have up to four parents to reflect modern “rainbow” and “patchwork” families, Germany’s national LGBTQ officer has said.

The new coalition government in Germany under Olaf Scholz has come up with the idea of a “community of responsibility”, under which adults who are not related to or romantically involved with one another would be able to enter legally binding family-like relationships.

These could include rights traditionally afforded to spouses, such as access to another adult’s sensitive medical information.

“In the future, more than two parents should be able to share custody of a child,” Sven Lehmann, 42, a Green MP and Germany’s first “queer affairs commissioner”, told the Funke media group of local newspapers.

“It should be possible for a child to have up to four people with an entitlement to custody,” he said.

“Family is as diverse as life itself. We want to give more protection to these family constellations and make sure that they can get legal recognition.”

A ‘rainbow family’ is one in which at least one parent is gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual or queer. A ‘patchwork’ or stepfamily involves at least one parent with a child from a previous relationship.