Gay Protest Spreads to L.A. Airport : Activism: About 600 march in 11th day of demonstrations against Wilson veto. Air traffic is not disrupted.

Hundreds of gay activists marched through Los Angeles International Airport for about an hour Wednesday evening in a continuing protest of Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of a bill that would have banned job discrimination against homosexuals.

Demonstrators carried signs reading, “No Rights, No Flights,” “Queer Votes Count” and “Pinocchio Pete--What a Liar.”

The demonstration marked the 11th consecutive day of gay protests of Wilson’s veto, and organizers are planning a major demonstration at the state Capitol on Friday.

Airport spokeswoman Pat Schoneberger said authorities had prepared for more than 1,000 demonstrators, and Los Angeles police assigned 500 officers to the protest, almost enough to go one-on-one with the 600 protesters they estimated were there.

“They were very orderly,” Schoneberger said. “The air traffic moved normally. There were some bottlenecks on the ground. After circling the upper level, they circled the lower level before going out to Century Boulevard.”

LAPD spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon said one demonstrator suffered minor injuries and “walked away” after being struck by a car on Century Boulevard. No arrest was made and authorities were not immediately able to locate the victim.

Some passersby flashed thumbs-up signs of encouragement to the marchers, but others seethed.

“I kind of see where they’re coming from . . . ,” Christi Valdez of Norwalk said before her friend, Joe Nuno, 20, interrupted.

“It’s just stupid,” he said. “Why did they come here to the airport delaying flights? They’re just going to make people hate them more. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money getting all these cops out here.”

Diana Kerans, 29, of Seattle said a travel agent had told her that 5,000 protesters were expected.

“They should have been yelling what they wanted, but they were just blowing whistles . . . just being obnoxious,” she said. “I was just holding my ears.”

U.S. Customs Service inspector Bradley Field, 25, was leaving work when he was caught in traffic backed up by the demonstrators. He said he was sympathetic to their cause, but “I think they could have picked a better place to march.”

Thousands of gays and their supporters have participated in a series of noisy rallies and marches that have covered miles of streets, disrupting traffic in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood and, on Tuesday night, along Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.

Police have typically escorted demonstrators, rerouting traffic. Except for a violent clash with Los Angeles police outside the Century Plaza Hotel and altercations with motorists, the demonstrations have largely proved peaceful.

Assistant Los Angeles Police Chief Robert Vernon told the Police Commission on Tuesday that police would not tolerate disruption of the airport.

Activist Robert Birch of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) said the demonstration was intended to be a peaceful airing of anger and concerns. He said it would be counterproductive if the protest were overly disruptive because that might alienate voters from supporting a gay rights initiative a coalition of groups hopes to place on the November, 1992, ballot.

The police, Birch added, “have duties to perform. We have history to make. Between those two objectives, surely there can be some accommodation.”