[cedsav]

Your contributions on StackOverflow demonstrate that you're passionate about your subject, articulate, and willing to help other. The gold badge reinforces that.

You're asking if it's worth something, I think it definitely is, but it's up to you to leverage it. Bring it up in your next job or salary negotiation, or when looking for freelance gigs.

Perhaps the most important thing for you though is to figure out what's next. If you enjoy educating and helping others, there are a lot more you can do: start a blog, write a book, teach a class, etc...

[brerlapn]

I think this is an approach that will serve you well in leveraging the SO ranking--cedsav mentions at least three skills that it demonstrates, and you should be able to expand on those (knowledgeable enough about Python to be able to understand a problem presented and identify a solution; efficiently communicating solutions to others, for example). Answer the question, "a gold badge, why should I care about that?" until you feel like you've got those skills you really want to highlight listed and honed in a way that you feel comfortable presenting them.

I know this is somewhat standard communications/marketing advice, but I think given your question it will serve you well, as it routes around the dismissiveness of the "it's just a gold badge" to make sure that they understand what it signifies.

Based on the responses to this thread, there are clearly people out there who value that signifier; some good communication will increase that number for you.