How important is sex

Context: (23M) and have not dated but I am going to start soon and looking for advice

I would prefer to wait until marriage. This is not just for religious reasons but also because of personal reasons that would take too long to explain

Obviously, I may have sex anyway, and I won't beat myself up over it if I do. But is it really that much of a deal breaker for people? I want to have my own values and be my own person, but at the same time, I don't want someone who really likes me to leave because I am not satisfying them.

I'm not ready for sex, and I don't want to do it with just anybody

EDIT: If people do want me to explain in more detail or they want to have a deeper conversation, they can DM/invite me to chat. Depending on the number of people who do so, I may not be able to talk to everybody