[Discussion] Can good writing stop something from being seen as queer baiting?

(Edit: Replace "queer baiting" with "bury your gays." Got them mixed up for a bit.)

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There's been a lot of backlash on anything that's seen as "queer baiting". I'm currently writing a story where a queer character dies in a fight protecting their love interest. They're one of 5 primary characters in the story, and they're one of the few in the story who do die. Writing everything like this makes it seem exactly like that, queer baiting. The primary focus on the characters is not their relationship though, but rather how reckless actions can cause distress for those around you. I feel this part of the story is an especially strong one, however I don't want the message of the moment to be completely clouded by the fact it could be interpreted as queer baiting.

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The main question I want to ask; Will good writing help the message of a moment stick with audiences despite queer baiting, or will the fact you're killing of a gay character make the *majority* of people see it as "just queer baiting" and cause it to lose the message? (I know a subset will of course not see the message regardless.) If the latter, should I just re-write that portion in order to help make sure the primary message is still not lost?

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I'm not going into super specifics of the story because I'm also interested in hearing what people have to say on the subject matter in general. If there are any other stories that handle killing a queer character well, or if there are no good examples of this? Are places where queer characters are killed off worse for it, and would it be better if it was rewritten to not kill them?