There are a lot of ways to get a passport without a BC, but the trick will be avoiding lawyer fees. I’d hit the local state representatives for where you were born, and where you live now. Hopefully one is democrat, and the other is republican, and you can play them off each other. Going to the local tv station can also help invigorate the reps.
Find any old school, church, or hospital records, and get them certified — any “public records”. Find any people that were around when you were born and remember, and get their affidavits. Whoever makes decisions will put a lot of weight on how much effort you have applied. Even records and affidavits that aren’t technically good enough will bear weight.
Good luck.
Thank you very much for the suggestions. Without going into too much detail, I was born out of wedlock and the parents separated soon after. Back in those days, that was a sin and mum had to move out of the area... let's just say that the father's side of the family was not exactly inclined to admit the existance of an illegitimate offspring back then.
Further, proving the existance of someone from that time, with records that were lost years ago (county courthouses in that area were commonly made of wood from years before, sadly) is not going to be easy, and even affidavits from people I knew from years past are generally not accepted at the local DMV for identification purposes. I've tried several other ways in the past for different purposes to no avail.