March by 1,000 Gay Activists Halts Business : Protest: The demonstration on the Westside is the latest against Gov. Wilson’s veto of legislation that would have banned job discrimination against homosexuals.

About 1,000 gay activists disrupted business from Rodeo Drive to Westwood Village Saturday in a continuing protest against Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of a bill that would have banned job discrimination against homosexuals.

Chanting “Gay Rights Now!” and blowing whistles and horns, the marchers brought business to a standstill in the posh shops of Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood, and jammed traffic on streets across the Westside.

“They are just shutting everything down as they go by,” said Los Angeles police officer Willie Workman, one of scores of motorcycle officers who escorted the protesters through the afternoon traffic. Police said the protest was peaceful and no injuries were reported.

“It will do no good to break windows or start fighting in these streets,” Lisa Mills, a member of League America, a gay and lesbian activist group, told demonstrators as they gathered in Beverly Hills.

At the intersection of Westwood and Wilshire boulevards, marchers staged an impromptu sit-in, tying up traffic as far as the eye could see in all directions.

“Wilson says we are bad for business,” said Jill, a 27-year-old financial planner from Beverly Hills who would not give her last name for fear of losing her job. “We are showing him how bad for business we really can be.”

One angry motorist attempted a citizen’s arrest of several protesters blocking his path out of Westwood. The motorist, however, said police offered no assistance.

“I have worked eight hours and I need to go home,” said Tony Barragan, a waiter in a Westwood restaurant, who stood on the sidewalk after parking his car in disgust. “I have a right to use the road. I am being held against my wishes.”

In Century City, the protesters swarmed into the Century City Shopping Center, startling shoppers and merchants with their whistles and horns but drawing cheers, smiles and applause from many shoppers.

“It is important for them to make a point,” said Shelly Bobbins, who stood outside a department store waving her hands in support. “I realize it is turning off a lot of people, but there is a lot of discrimination out there.”

On Rodeo Drive, the crowd marched past some of the world’s most exclusive shops and boutiques, at one point engulfing a bus of Asian tourists out for a sightseeing trip. Outside one specialty shop, the clamor grew deafening as the protesters signaled their approval of a sign posted in the window: “The staff of the Bang and Olufsen store support passage of AB 101,” the Assembly bill vetoed by Wilson.

“We want the employers in Beverly Hills to know what is going on,” said Guy Johnson, a Beverly Hills makeup artist. “So many people here are clueless, they don’t even know what AB 101 is. There is a lot of apathy even in the homosexual community.”

The afternoon march--a grass-roots effort lacking any single dominant organizer--followed a similar protest Friday night that drew 2,000 demonstrators to the streets of West Hollywood and Hollywood.

The nighttime march disrupted traffic and caused gridlock on major thoroughfares, where protesters waved flashlights and candles and exhorted motorists to honk their horns in support of their cause.

Most motorists waited patiently in their cars as the marchers streamed by hoisting flags and placards, including one that read, “For This Jam, Blame Pete Wilson.”

“This is the kind of thing that can backfire for their cause,” said one frustrated driver, who sat fuming in his gridlocked car and asked not to be identified. “It certainly angers me.”

Sam Morago, general manager of J. Sloan’s, a bar on Melrose Avenue, expressed mixed feelings about the march, saying, “Everybody has a right to do whatever they want. I just wish that they didn’t have to disrupt business while they’re doing it.”

But to many marchers, the protests have been a catharsis for their anger. Sean Maguire and Fritz Leiss wore T-shirts that showed a knife stabbing them in the backs, reflecting the feeling of betrayal that many gays hold for Wilson. Yet the 29-year-old Maguire said he was grateful to the governor for rallying gays and lesbians.

“I think it was a catalyst for a lot of things that people have been frustrated with over the past 10 years, including the AIDS issue, housing issues, job discrimination and just generally hatred and bigotry against the gay community as a whole,” he said.

Leiss, 31, of West Hollywood, agreed.

“I think this is going to recharge a movement that has died down for a while,” he said. “If we had had this kind of enthusiasm before Wilson vetoed it, then we wouldn’t have this.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Donald R. Swift said no one was arrested during the Friday night march, which lasted 3 1/2 hours, and the only person believed injured was a “safety monitor” whose leg was accidentally run over by a car.

“If you’ve got somewhere around 2,000 demonstrators, you’ve got a lot of cops out here and a potential for a lot of things,” Swift said. “If nobody got hurt, I’m happy.”

In Garden Grove Saturday night, 17 people were arrested after an estimated 1,000 demonstrators marched down Garden Grove Boulevard, chanting and cheering to protest Wilson’s recent veto. To shouts of “Gay rights now,” 16 demonstrators were led away and arrested by police after they linked themselves arm-in-arm and refused to leave the center of a major intersection. One counter-demonstrator also was arrested after he reportedly threatened protesters with a baseball bat.

While no violence occurred, the event grew increasingly confrontational as the protesters marched past residential areas on Garden Grove Boulevard.

Times staff writer Eric Lichtblau contributed to this story.