Homosexual panic is a term, first coined by psychiatrist

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 Edward J. Kempf in 1920, describing an acute, brief reactive psychosis

Brief reactive psychosis

Brief reactive psychosis - referred to in the DSM IV-TR as "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressor" - is the psychiatric term for psychosis which can be triggered by an extremely stressful event in the life of a patient....

 suffered by the target of unwanted homosexual

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

 advances. Despite the psychotic

Psychosis

Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...

 nature of the disorder, Kempf called it "acute homosexual panic". The disorder is also known in Kempf's honour as "Kempf's disease".

Breakdowns were said to occur in situations that involve enforced intimacy with the same sex, such as dormitories or military barracks.

This condition has been used in criminal cases as a gay panic defense

Gay panic defense

The gay panic defense is a legal defense against charges of assault or murder. A defendant using the gay panic defense claims that he or she acted in a state of violent temporary insanity because of a little-known psychiatric condition called homosexual panic. Trans panic is a similar defense...

, though its validity has been challenged in some jurisdictions and the defense generally fails.