Ancestry.com is pretty reliable ... And they have scanned documents of things like census forms and ship passenger lists.

But it's always a good idea to double-check and cross-reference any links.

From personal experience ... The least reliable are LDS sites/records.

There are so many to chose from that I found this site with the top 10 in the U.S.

Top 10 U.S. Websites to Search for Your Ancestors

www.easyfamilyhistory.com/best-of-internet/top-10-websites

If they are your friends, they won't tell anyone... But you should be completely comfortable about getting out of the closet.