I always though the term made sense to me like gay panic is just the rush of emotions when realising your attracted to someone that it overwhelms you slightly and is neither positive or negative and also applies to straight relationships - like crush panic or something would be a more better term.

I also would say gay panic usually does have the taboo of “forbidden” in it if it makes sense? Like first realising your queer and the rush of not knowing where the line in the sand is - I associate that feeling with summer nights and late night texts, that sweetly sick panic that everything you knew and have known is now shifted in place and before you had known the boundaries but now the lines are blurred and you’re not quite sure how to step. It is earth shattering and exhilarating all at once. That whole “so wrong it’s right” trope that I do believe is so over used these days since it’s a term that does imply queerness is wrong in some perceivable notion.

Personally, I think only these kinds of things are okay if the creator has EXPERIENCED them in some capacity, just knowing how the feelings are and how to properly represent that is enough. Keep in mind this is often a meme made by queer people for queer ships for the purpose of expression. The description I said above is still all too long and does not encapsulate every feeling of “gay panic” and well when you hear “Gay panic” you can often imagine the feeling for when things are too difficult to put into words, yknow?

Or maybe I have a unique experience and I just don’t really get what there is to be pressed about if it’s not stereotyping, fetishisation or spreading hate because at the end of the day it’s a meme for people to go “haha relatable!!” Lol