Christine Bland’s fingerprints are on several major deep-space missions from the last decade.

She’s worked on NASA’s Juno and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, among others, as an engineer at Lockheed Martin. Since 2009, she’s led Lockheed’s team developing the electronic hardware on NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

Three years ago, she transitioned into what she calls her “true authentic self” — changing from living as a man named Ricky to living her life as a woman.

Bland was recognized Saturday as the 2014 LGBT engineer of the year by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, or NOGLSTP.

“It’s hard to grasp it from a personal success standpoint. My name is up there with the list of the who’s who in the LGBT engineering and science community,” Bland said. “The fact is, not only has my career actually prospered, but I’ve had opportunities that I’ve never dreamed of before.”

A transgender person is one whose gender identity or expression is different from that associated with the sex they were born, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Some, but not all, transgender people will change their bodies to match their identity through the use of hormones or with surgery.

Prior to Bland’s transformation, she achieved great professional success, but it came with challenges that stemmed from her internal struggle.

The decision to finally transition to a woman was terrifying. Bland was plagued by fears that her coworkers would shun her, or, worse, that she might be fired.

As any good engineer would, Bland approached the issue systematically: She went to her boss, they went to human resources, and then methodically informed everyone about what to expect — even addressing questions about gender pronoun usage and restroom use.

“Frankly, most people are barely aware of what trans issues are. It’s not just the employee who’s changing; everybody else has to change around them,” she said. “I had a very important role on Orion, and it was a very big deal to transition and maintain people’s confidence in me that I could do the job.”

Although LGBT awareness has been more prevalent in recent years, it’s a challenge to gather workplace data since many still keep their sexual orientation or gender identification hidden, even if a company is LGBT-friendly, NOGLSTP chairwoman Rochelle Diamond said.

Ensuring an LGBT-friendly environment will ultimately benefit a company’s bottom line, but even in companies like Lockheed Martin, which holds the top score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, people still have to gauge how safe they feel about being openly gay, lesbian or transgender.

“From a business standpoint, it’s much better to be supportive, creating a less hostile working environment. People who are supported bring their whole person to work,” Diamond said. “Pretending to be something you’re not takes a huge amount of energy.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, six studies conducted between 1996 and 2006 revealed that anywhere from 20 percent to 57 percent of transgender U.S. workers experienced some sort of workplace discrimination. More than 2 million annually leave their workplaces due to “unfairness,” the studies showed. This costs U.S. employers about $64 billion annually.

Laws protecting LGBT people in areas like housing, employment and crime

vary from state to state. Companies with holdings in states that don’t offer protections, however, have an opportunity to step up and take action beyond the board room, Diamond said.

“Companies need to use their lobbying power. And what if you’re sent to Saudi Arabia, Africa, or some of these other countries where it’s absolutely illegal to be LGBT?” she said. “The best thing is to have that HRC index score, but the next thing is to walk the walk.”

In addition to her engineering success, Bland is now an LGBT leader at Lockheed Martin. In addition to working as a mentor and STEM education advocate, she also chairs the Lockheed Martin Transgender Council, which she founded to assist with legal and insurance issues and provide support to transgender employees.

With her leadership, Lockheed Martin became the first aerospace and defense company to recruit candidates at transgender career fairs.

“I just had to give back,” she said. “Lockheed is a huge corporation spread over the world, and the trans stuff is so new, so there’s a need to get good information out there.”

In her free time, Bland plays the trombone in the swing ensemble of the LGBT Mile High Freedom Band. She’s a performance artist, and also volunteers with several community organizations.

Most important, she’s happy.

“I’m just amazed at how much progress has been made,” she said. “You can be your true authentic self and go after the things you want to do. Just be honest with yourself and everybody else, and let other people worry about their issues.”

Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney

Lgbt resources in colorado

The Center: 1301 E Colfax, Denver, CO 80218 | 303-733-7743 | http://www.glbtcolorado.org/

Gender Identity Center: 1151 S Huron Street, Denver, Colorado 80223 | (303) 202-6466 | https://www.gic-colorado.org