The Virgin Birth is "pious opinion" and is not a make-or-break belief for salvation.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed shall have life everlasting.
Does your faith and salvation hinge on the belief of a Virgin Birth?
The Virgin birth is in the oldest of the creeds, (about as essential as it gets) its truth is clearly spelled out in the gospels....and is absolutely necessary logically for the deity of Christ. Without Christ' diety there is no salvation.
So, yes, the virgin birth of Christ is much more than a "pious opinion" and is an essential belief equal to the crucifixion, death and bodily resurrection of Christ.
Very obviously salvation does depend on belief in the virgin birth--or else Christ is not Lord, just another pious teacher.
By the way, no one that I've ever heard of has called the Virgin Birth mere "pious opinion" unless they are clearly theologically liberal, and reject the authority of the bible.
Are you sure you weren't talking about the "immaculate conception" (of Mary) the old Roman Catholic doctrine (only made dogma in the 19th Century)? It surely fits the standard of "pious opinion" since there's not a shred of scriptural evidence to support it.
Part of belief in the only begotten Son of John 3:16 is to believe where He came from--according to His holy word, the scriptures.
Lots of active homosexuals, I'm sure, believe in Jesus ... they just don't believe His word on their lifestyle, and remain condemned in sin. To believe in a Jesus not of the bible is to worship an idol of ones own making....