HARRISBURG — A federal judge Friday set June 9 as the trial date for a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s gay-marriage ban.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III scheduled the trial at the federal courthouse in Harrisburg and set a timetable for pretrial motions and other paperwork following a meeting with lawyers in the case.

He rejected as unnecessary a defense request to delay the trial until August.

“I’m an optimist by nature,” Jones said.

Pennsylvania is the only northeastern state that bars same-sex marriage. Nationally, Illinois this week joined 15 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing it.