No, it's not essential persay but red meat (beef in particular) is complete protein with all the amino acids so you're limiting yourself if you don't source at least a proportion of your protein grams from it.
For me, the difference was immense when I stopped following the 'extra clean' tuna, chicken breast and egg white diet, threw in a load of red meat and whole eggs and I just blew up, muscle-wise. Keeping the lean protein for my evening meals ensured that my bodyfat was kept in check.
People who eat egg whites, chicken and tuna and expect to get big are just kidding themselves - that's precontest fare for competing bodybuilders.
If you think you'll get big on just lean proteins like chicken and fish then you're wrong.. you'll get big(ger) but it'll take you longer. The simple truth is that these foods, while being reasonable sources of protein, just don't pack the calorific punch required for serious growth .. I'm talking SERIOUS growth though, which not everyone is after.
And if you don't like red meat, well, you don't like red meat! I'd throw down a kg or two of steak mince in a day pretty easily. Yum!
Try to like it.. if you really can't you really can't, but if you add say 100g of beef protein in your daily intake for two or three months, I'm sure you'll see a difference.