My definition of Yuri is very similar, but from a very different reason & view. I prefer "The distribution of the sensible" of Jacques Ranciere rather than "The beauty" of Immanuel Kant(the only pleasure in the beautiful is “disinterested”) when talking about art works. Of course, Art is not just mimesis, the copy of "real(ity)", but It actively affects the sense to audiences and unstablize the boundary line between many domains("breaking down - with an idea of art - an idea of society based on the opposition between those who think and decide and those who are doomed to material tasks." from The Distribution of The Sensible : Politics of Aesthetics).

So, our concept or norm of "Love/Romance" is invented from modern age which wants to make individuals free from a "clan" and a "pravite" territory by forming a nuclear family, instead. The ideal love became a "private" thing, which should not to be violated by any social rule(even it is still "hetero-oriented" because of the modern family form) .

Yuri genre discovers "love" in different ways, not just for homosexual way, but as entirely new relationships, like Friendship, Associativity(Sisterhood), Eros, "Love/Romance" etc etc. They can across each other, sometimes push each other away, but so they can be redistributed in the name of "love". That experimental relationship can be toxic, but if the result is already decided, then we will not call it as "an experiment". And in my view, Yuri genre is less violentic and doesn`t prefer master-slave relationship than BL, which also experimented many sexual/erotic relationships.