The Obama administration has come out against so-called gay conversion therapies for children who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). The announcement comes after a White House petition surpassed the required number of signatures and as states throughout the U.S. begin banning the practice.

Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett released a response to the We the People petition posted the White House's website asking the president to take a stance on gay conversion therapy and enact Leelah's Law to ban the treatment for children.

Named after Leelah Alcorn, an Ohio transgender teen that committed suicide in late December after being mistreated by her family, making her undergo conversion therapy, Leelah's law was published in January and gathered more than 120,000 signatures, prompting the Obama administration to answer.

"We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth," Jarrett wrote, explaining that gay conversion therapy has been used on minors with the hope of changing their sexual identity.

"The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm. ... As part of our dedication to protecting America's youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors."

Jarrett cited the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and many other medical and counseling organizations who disavow gay conversion therapy.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights lobbying group, California and New Jersey along with the District of Columbia have banned gay conversion therapy for minors. Eighteen other states have introduced similar legislation.

HRC also explained that earlier this year Oklahoma attempted to pass a law allowing for youth gay conversion therapy, but the bill was defeated.

Truth Wins Out, a nonprofit fighting gay conversion therapy, lauded the administration's statement.

"We are ecstatic that President Barack Obama spoke out against this harmful practice that psychologically terrorizes too many perfectly healthy LGBT youth and stigmatizes them as mentally ill," Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen said.

"The president's wise words gave momentum to efforts to prohibit fringe practitioners from traumatizing vulnerable LGBT adolescents and calling it therapy."