Maine is the 17th state to ban the practice which aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine's governor, Janet Mills, put her support behind a bill to ban so-called gay conversion therapy for minors, signing it into law Wednesday.

The bill, LD 1025, advanced in Maine's House and Senate in early May and has held bipartisan support before it reached Gov. Mills for her signature on May 29.

Several lawmakers turned up for the signing of the bill into law Wednesday morning. Conversion therapy has been viewed by many mental health professionals as unethical and ineffective.

Maine joins 16 other states that have banned the practice, which aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a tweet, Governor Mills said,